After suffering through a six-game losing streak, the Calgary Flames beat the Seattle Kraken 6-3 on Nov. 4. They kept it going by beating the Nashville Predators 4-2 on Nov. 7, out-shooting them 39 to 18.
The team made some significant changes to their play style to get out of the slump they were in.
The Flames threw pucks at the net
During their six-game losing streak, the Flames put up a combined 177 shots on goal. Their opponents equaled those shots, which wouldn’t be bad if it weren’t the Flames.
Calgary has a history of putting up dozens of shots per game. In the middle of that stretch, they were being outshot by their opponents as they were playing it too safe with the puck. In their last two games, Calgary put up 70 shots to their opponents’ combined 38.
Martin Pospisil, newly added to the lineup, scored his first NHL goal against Seattle and four different Flames scored against Nashville. This is a much better showing from the shot-aggressive Flames.
The Calgary Flames have been playing much better hockey lately.
Calgary pressured their opponents
The Flames started playing aggressively again. It started against the Dallas Stars when they got more physical. Even though they lost that game, Calgary had that spark back in them. They pressured Dallas and kept that pressure up against Seattle and Nashville.
They dominated Nashville and didn’t allow them much time with the puck in their zone. It’s refreshing to see the Flames playing with passion again.
The Flames made some adjustments to the lineups
One of the biggest changes Calgary made was their lineup. While they didn’t make any major decisions, the ones made have had immediate impacts. Adding Connor Zary and Martin Pospisil to the lineup, gave the team a much-needed boost in energy.
Nick DeSimone has put in the work on the defense as well. Injecting some youth into the lineups has given the Flames more to work within the games to come.
The lineup has the potential to change more as the team continues their rebuild but as long as they’re willing to switch things up, they’ll make it work.
As the season progresses, Calgary will have their work cut out for them. They sit third from the bottom in the Pacific Division above the San Jose Sharks and the Edmonton Oilers.
If Calgary wants any chance at making the playoffs, they have to lock it in and focus on playing the game their way.