ROAD TRIP WILL TEST SURGING FLAMES
CALGARY • The Calgar y Flames climbed out of the NHL’s basement and back into the playoff picture with a season-high five wins in a row.
They need to transfer the momentum generated at Scotiabank Saddledome to a fourgame road trip starting Tuesday in Nashville against the Predators.
“This is a huge road trip for us, a huge test,” left- winger Johnny Gaudreau said Monday at the Saddledome.
The Flames (13-14-2) are also in Dallas on Thursday before back-to-back games in St. Louis and Detroit on the weekend. Calgary’s Karri Ramo will start in goal in Nashville after sitting out two games with the flu.
Last in the NHL a week ago, the Flames didn’t need many wins to get back into the thick of an anemic Pacific Division. At 28 points, Calgary sat two back of the Vancouver Canucks and Arizona Coyotes, who as of Monday were tied for second in the division.
Those fives wins made it nine in a row at the Saddledome. The Flames now have to do something about their 3-92 road record to continue their recovery.
“The easiest motivation for an NHL player is look at the standings,” Flames head coach Bob Hartley said.
“It’s four big games against four excellent hockey clubs so we will need to be at our best. We want to be a playoff team? We have to win those games. We’re on a good roll right now, guys are feeling good so it’s important we keep playing the same brand of hockey.”
Top- line centre Sean Monahan and his winger Gaudreau stepped up their production with a combined 10 goals and eight assists in that fivegame span.
The slippery, skilled Gaudreau continues to be the star of the league’s three- on- three overtime format with his sixth OT point in Saturday’s 5-4 win over the New York Rangers. He assisted on T. J. Brodie’s winner as the Flames improved to a league- best 7-1 in overtime.
Gaudreau, 22, recently spoke about the increased responsibility he feels in his sophomore NHL season.
“It’s my second year and obviously as you play more games and are in the league longer, you’re probably relied on a little bit more,” he said.
“Me and Monny playing first line, playing a lot of minutes on the offensive we’ve got to make sure we’re coming ready to play every single night. If we’re playing that kind of minutes we need to make sure we’re producing offensively and playing well defensively as well.”
The top defensive pairing of Brodie and captain Mark Giordano is also contributing more on offence with a combined two goals and eight assists in those five wins.
That duo’s ability to generate offence from the back end with their speed and puckmoving skill was a major factor in the Flames making the playoffs last season.
Pieces of Calgary’s game have come around, but there are still holes. Their goalsagainst average of 3.52 — it was 3.2 over their five victories — ranks at the bottom of the league. A power play at 11.6 per cent and a penalty kill at 70.9 are also the worst in the NHL.