The last time the Calgary Flames won at home, Santa Claus hadn’t even been to town. Another loss tonight versus the visiting Coyotes and it’ll be winless since Dec. 23, when they beat the Blues 4-3 in a shootout. Since then, the NHL’s coldest team has dropped seven straight at the Saddledome, all in regulation, while getting outscored by a margin of -- get this -- 22 to 4.
Suffice to say, the Flames’ pleasantly surprising start is a distant memory now.
For Phoenix, tonight is a prime opportunity to collect a pair of much-needed points.
“I haven’t even thought about [Calgary’s struggles],” coach Dave Tippett said, per NHL.com. “We’re concerned with what we’re doing. We feel like we’ve played better the last three or four games. Our game has been pretty good, but that being said, we’ve only won two of the last four, so we’re concerned about making sure we bring our game to the best of our ability and we’ll see what happens there.”
The Coyotes can’t afford to let too many winnable opportunities get past them. Not when they sit four points back of Minnesota for the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference.