The Calgary Flames’ current six-game road trip was never going to be an easy one. In fact, it is one that many felt could wind up resulting in them falling out of the playoff race they’ve grinded so hard to stay in all season long. They were able to pick up a massive 3-1 win over the Washington Capitals on Tuesday, but last night’s result was much different.
Related: 3 Takeaways From Flames’ 3-1 Win Over the Capitals
Playing against a Tampa Bay Lightning team that defeated them 8-4 earlier in the season, the Flames were once again the inferior opponent in last night’s tilt, falling by a 3-0 final. The Flames didn’t get outplayed by any means, but were unable to get any pucks past Andrei Vasilevskiy. With that said, here are the three main takeaways from last night’s outing.
Flames Offence Non-Existent
The Flames threw 27 shots on net, but were unable to solve one of the best goalies in the business in Vasilevskiy. They are by no means the first team to struggle when it comes to beating the Russian netminder, and certainly won’t be the last. He had a superb showing in this one, though, as head coach Ryan Huska alluded to in his postgame comments; the Flames didn’t make things terribly difficult for him.
“Whether [we needed] more traffic, or their goaltender just kind of being in the zone. He looked that way to me tonight, everything looked easy for him,” Huska said. “We have to find a way to get a little bit more in front of him and make his life a little more difficult.”
Offence has been difficult for this Flames group to come by, as they sit 30th in the NHL with just 151 goals on the season. They’ll need some of their top stars to be better going forward on this road trip if they want to remain in the playoff hunt by the time they return home next Saturday.
Fourth Line Continuing to Excel
A big problem for the Flames this season has been their fourth line. For a large portion of the 2024-25 campaign, they’ve given up far too many scoring opportunities, and haven’t been able to muster up much offence. That’s resulted in Huska having to cut their minutes immensely, but they seem to have turned things around as of late.
The Flames have gotten more offence from their fourth line recently, and though they weren’t able to get on the scoresheet in this one, they played with noticeable pace and physicality, which made life difficult on the Lightning. That is exactly what you want out of a fourth line, and is something they will need to continue doing going forward.
Wins Becoming Extremely Crucial
Though there are still 24 games remaining in the season, it’s quickly becoming apparent how important each and every one of them will be moving forward. The Flames and Vancouver Canucks are in a tightly-contested battle for the final wild-card position in the Western Conference, and each loss is beginning to sting much more than they did earlier in the season.
Related: Flames Should Strongly Consider Claiming Juuso Valimaki Off Waivers
Thankfully for the Flames’ sake, the Canucks were also unable to pull out a victory last night, falling to the Anaheim Ducks by a 5-2 final. That keeps the Canucks just one point ahead of the Flames, who have one game in hand.
Looking Ahead for the Flames
The Flames have four games remaining on this road trip, the first two of which will come in a daunting back-to-back set. They will take on the Florida Panthers Saturday afternoon, before taking on the Carolina Hurricanes Sunday afternoon. Their road trip will conclude with games on Tuesday and Thursday against the Philadelphia Flyers and Dallas Stars, before they return home to take on the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday, March 8.
