The season was going well for the Calgary Flames one week ago. Less so for the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Seven days later, the tide has turned for each team before Saturday night’s contest in Pittsburgh.
Last Saturday, the Flames concluded an undefeated four-game homestand with a 4-3 shootout triumph against the visiting Minnesota Wild. Two days later, the Flames embarked on a four-game trip through the Eastern Conference. Three games into their voyage, they’re still in search of a win, most recently falling 5-2 to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday.
“The first period was awful. The second period was awful. The third a push,” defenseman Rasmus Andersson said of the game versus the Blue Jackets. “Just not good enough. … We have to be better on the road.”
The road hasn’t been kind to Calgary, which is 3-5-4 in opposing rinks compared with a 9-3-0 record at home. The Flames lost six straight on the road (0-3-3) and nine of 10 away from home, with the lone win on Nov. 5 against the Montreal Canadiens.
“It’s on each guy. … Every guy in this room needs to be better (on Saturday),” Flames forward Blake Coleman said. “These are games we need to start taking care of on the road if we want to be taken seriously as a playoff team here. It’s early, but it’s never too early to keep trying to climb up the standings. Good teams find ways to stop the bleeding.”
Offense has been hard to come by for Calgary, which ranks tied for 27th in the NHL with an average of 2.54 goals per game.
The Penguins, meanwhile, have won two games in a row after recording only one win in their previous seven games (1-4-2). They beat the Vancouver Canucks, one of the NHL’s top road teams, 5-4 on Wednesday, and followed that with a 2-1 victory against the Boston Bruins on Friday.
Philip Tomasino, acquired via trade from the Nashville Predators on Monday, scored the go-ahead goal against Boston to give Pittsburgh consecutive wins for the first time since Oct. 31-Nov. 2.
“There’s a price to pay to win, and I thought our guys worked really hard tonight,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “… The last couple of games, we look so much more like the team that we want to be. Just being proactive, controlling momentum. I just think there’s a lot to build on.”
Friday’s win marked the first time since Nov. 8 that the Penguins have held their opponent to two goals or less.
“Coming down to a tight game in the last period, I guess the whole game was really good for our whole group,” said goalie Tristan Jarry. “From top to bottom, just blocking shots, keeping pucks down low, holding onto pucks. I think we held momentum most of the game, and I think that’s what really helped us down the stretch.”
–Field Level Media