CALGARY – There it was, the Flames’ season in a nutshell.
A game after probably their most extensive effort of the season, that Calgary Flames returned to Earth with another dud against a bottom feeder.
While the results don’t matter much this late in the game, it’s the wild swings in the team’s structure and execution that define the 2023-24 season.
“I guess you could say that,” he said MacKenzie Weegar after a 5-3 loss to the 30th-ranked Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday.
“Yes, there are definitely a lot of ups and downs.
“I would say the consistency isn’t there and that’s something we need to work on and build on next year, for sure.”
“If you want to be a great team in this league, you have to win consistently and we’re going to need that.”
var adServerUrl = “”; var $el = $( “#video_container-992974” ); var permalink = $el.closest(‘.snet-single-article’).data(‘permalink’);
/* if ( “1” == true && ‘undefined’ !== typeof window.getIndexAds ) { var so = {preroll:{1:{1:{siteID:191888},2:{siteID:191889}}} }; adServerUrl = window.getIndexAds( ‘ also, permalink); } else { adServerUrl = ” } */ adServerUrl = ” var adServerUrl_result = adServerUrl.includes(“cust_params”); var queryString=”; if(adServerUrl_result){ var gettheDUFI = localStorage.getItem(“theRED_loc”)
if(gettheDUFI){ queryString += “dufiid=” + gettheDUFI + ‘&’; queryString += “ppid=” + gettheDUFI + ‘&’; var ppid = “ppid=” + gettheDUFI + ‘&’; }
var DUFI_IP = sessionStorage.getItem(“DUFI_IP”)
if(DUFI_IP){ queryString += “dufiip=” + DUFI_IP + ‘&’; }
adServerUrl = adServerUrl.replace(/cust_params=/, ppid + ‘cust_params=” + encodeURIComponent(queryString) ); }
$el.after( unescape(“%3Cscript src=”” + (document.location.protocol == “https:” ? ” : ” + “.scorecardresearch.com/beacon.js” %3E%3C/script %3E”) );
$( document ).one( “ready’, function() { $( “#video_container-992974” ).SNPlayer( { bc_account_id: “1704050871”, bc_player_id: “JCdte3tMv”, //autoplay: true, //is_has_autoplay_switch: false, bc_videos: 6350187768112, is_has_continuous_play: “false”, adserverurl: adServerUrl, section: “”, thumbnail: “direct_url:” }); });
var adServerUrl = “”; var $el = $( “#video_container-893913” ); var permalink = $el.closest(‘.snet-single-article’).data(‘permalink’); /* if ( “1” == true && ‘undefined’ !== typeof window.getIndexAds ) { var so = {preroll:{1:{1:{siteID:191888},2:{siteID:191889}}} }; adServerUrl = window.getIndexAds( ‘ also, permalink); } else { adServerUrl = ” } */ adServerUrl = ” var adServerUrl_result = adServerUrl.includes(“cust_params”); var queryString=”; if(adServerUrl_result){ var gettheDUFI = localStorage.getItem(“theRED_loc”) if(gettheDUFI){ queryString += “dufiid=” + gettheDUFI + ‘&’; queryString += “ppid=” + gettheDUFI + ‘&’; var ppid = “ppid=” + gettheDUFI + ‘&’; } var DUFI_IP = sessionStorage.getItem(“DUFI_IP”) if(DUFI_IP){ queryString += “dufiip=” + DUFI_IP + ‘&’; } adServerUrl = adServerUrl.replace(/cust_params=/, ppid + ‘cust_params=” + encodeURIComponent(queryString) ); } $el.after( unescape(“%3Cscript src=”” + (document.location.protocol == “https:” ? ” : ” + “.scorecardresearch.com/beacon.js” %3E%3C/script%3E”) ); $( document ).one( “ready’, function() { $( ” #video_container-893913″ ).SNPlayer( { bc_account_id: “1704050871”, bc_player_id: “JCdte3tMv”, //autoplay: false, //is_has_autoplay_switch: false, bc_videos: 6350187768112, is_has_continuous_play: “false”, adserverurl: adServerUrl, section: “”, thumbnail: ” direct_url: ” }); });
Then came the kicker.
“I don’t care if we lose the next eight games,” Weegar spat, annoyed by that night’s performance.
“Come into battle and work for each other.”
In the last eight games, with the playoffs out of reach, one of the biggest team goals for this radically renewed squad is to solidify the structure and exceed home expectations.
And consistently.
“You want to play structured hockey for 60 minutes,” Weegar said brilliantly.
“We just played our last game against a playoff team.
“I don’t know why it’s falling over so quickly. It’s strange and I don’t understand it.
“This level of effort is unacceptable, especially when we now have a younger group. We have to set the standard now.”
Five defeats in the last six games are irrelevant at this point.
Given the draft lottery odds at stake, it’s actually an advantage.
But as Ryan Huska’s team heads toward the dreaded year-end meetings, they know their biggest problem of the year has been consistency.
“Yeah, that’s definitely one of the problems,” said Huska, whose team is on a never-ending streak of three- and four-game wins and losses through 74 games, peppered with regular defeats against some of the team’s weakest teams .
“We’ve had swings where we stretched well and won games, and we’ve had swings where you have to stop the bleeding before it gets to a point where you can’t recover.”
They reached this point a while ago, and then came the last few significant roster moves that no team has been able to recover from.
The hope is that if the Flames play the way Huska wants them to, they’ll have proven they can compete with anyone.
They just can’t do it regularly enough, which is really the defining line between a good team and a playoff team.
“Five-on-five against LA, our game was really good,” Huska said, referencing Saturday’s 4-2 win over the playoff-bound Kings.
“We were terrible tonight.”
Huska knew exactly who to point the finger at.
“We had a handful of players to play with tonight,” Huska said, adding that it was easy to tell who they were.
“The rest didn’t.
“I think we were looking for an easy game and that’s what we ended up getting.”
The only bright spot was that Nazem Kadri, Martin Pospisil, Andrei Kuzmenko Trio in which the Russian winger scored two goals.
Kuzmenko has scored four goals and six points in his last three games with his new team, led by Kadri and Pospisil.
“Naz is competitive, Posp knows his role really well – I think he had seven goals tonight – and Kuzy is starting to feel good in his offensive game,” the coach said.
“He wants the puck and wants to be near it. I think the three of them are starting to benefit from each other.”
A little test of success.
Something the Flames know all too much about.
