It has reached a point where twice in the last month Saddledome fans have chanted “We Want 10”. Under the tutelage of Darryl Sutter, the bar has definitely been raised around these places. This happens when a team is dynamic enough to turn a 1-0 deficit after 30 seconds into a 9-1 slaughter. Okay, the opposition was feeding Arizona. However, you can not blame a noisy gathering of Dome residents for the festive mood.
That same week, Johnny Gaudreau closed the 100-point line, and his team finally followed suit. Given the location of Gaudreau and his Flames a year ago, there could be a fairly healthy discussion about which century is most amazing. Okay, we could add a third there soon, as Matthew Tkachuk is now just four points away from a three-digit number. Either way, the resurrection of Gaudreau and Tkachuk played a huge role in Saturday’s confirmation that the Flames have officially received their ticket to the Stanley Cup playoffs. An Edmonton Oilers victory earlier in the day over Vegas put an x ​​next to the Flames in the standings, where they are also probably a few days away from winning the Pacific Division. However, they were there on Saturday night, lining up against the worst team in the NHL with exactly the same lineup with which Sutter hopes to open the post-season. No rest unless you are injured, as Sutter has stated. “I’m not really interested in the game, all I have to say is, crazy, with two weeks left for the playoff season,” said Sutter, whose club reached 101 points with seven games left. . “Give the players a lot of praise. That’s all that matters. “There is no one in this room who would have said that six months ago.” Indeed, the tide has changed dramatically in Calgary, as did Saturday’s game, in which the Flames lost 1-0 after one, only to explode with four goals in 2:33 to open the second. Given how amazing the franchise’s recovery from a change of coach and last season’s playoff loss was, something like a nine-goal celebration is no longer a surprise. By the end of the night, Gaudreau, Tkachuk and colleague Elias Lindholm each had four points each to start the party. “It is a huge achievement for our team from where we were last year and from where we are this year,” said Gaudreau, who now has 105 points. “I’m proud of the kids in the locker room. “We have to try to put ourselves in a good position for the rest of the year and try to get on the ice in the other playoffs and prepare for the first round.” This team is now one of the contenders for the Cup with the mind, balance, goalkeeping, goals and structure that makes many teams throughout the league painfully realize that the Flames are still the hottest team in the NHL since all-star game. One of the questions now revolves around how Sutter will try to help the club maintain its victories through seven more regular season games. Three years ago, when the Flames won the crown of the regular season of the Western Conference at about the same time, the team struggled to maintain its intensity and dominance throughout. Five games in a row in their first round against an expanding Colorado team that year, the Flames bounced off, leaving a mark on all the Flames veterans who continue to swear from what they have learned. We will see, as the rest of the program is full of a patchwork of playoff failures (Chicago, Vancouver, Winnipeg), as well as teams that do their best to be placed in the spring showcase (Dallas, Nashville twice and Minnesota) . “Just looking back at that year 2018-19 we had kids sitting and kids resting for the playoffs and we kind of took our foot off the gas,” Gaudreau said. “We can not do that this year. We must continue to get better every game and not relax and feel comfortable just because you are in the playoffs. “This is something I liked from that year and I think a lot of the kids in our team this year were part of it and we learned from it.”