The Calgary Flames and center Elias Lindholm will both attempt to set franchise records on Thursday night when they travel to Vancouver to play the Canucks.
Calgary has won 10 in a row, tying the team mark set Oct. 14-Nov. 3, 1978, while the franchise was housed in Atlanta and equaled on Feb. 21-March 13 in 2017.
Lindholm, the reigning NHL No. 1 Star of the Week, has scored a goal in eight straight games to tie the team mark set by Kent Nilsson in November 1983 and equaled by Gary Roberts in January/February of 1993.
The Flames, who started the streak on Jan. 29 with a 1-0 win over the Canucks on Johnny Gaudreau’s goal 29 seconds into overtime, have done it with a stifling defense. Calgary has allowed a league-low 114 goals and outscored its opponents 42-15 during the streak, allowing more than two goals just once. That came in a 4-3 victory at Dallas.
“We’ve kept the goals against down,” said Flames coach Darryl Sutter. “That’s really important — it’s the only way we’ll make the playoffs. There were games where we gave up too many quality opportunities, which we have to contain and continue on working on cutting back. Most of it is turnover related or structure related. Those areas we have to clean up.”
Goalie Jacob Markstrom has benefitted from the team’s defensive style registering a league-best eight shutouts. He had to make just 15 saves in the Jan. 29 overtime win over the Canucks.
Calgary was in fourth place and seven points behind Pacific Division-leading Vegas before starting the streak. The first-place Flames will take a four-point lead over the Golden Knights into Thursday’s contest and still have two games in hand.
Still, Sutter, who coached the Los Angeles Kings to Stanley Cup titles in 2012 and 2014, low-keyed his team’s record-tying win streak when asked about it following a 3-1 victory over Winnipeg on Monday.
“I don’t put a whole lot into 10 in a row unless they were 10 in a row in the playoffs,” he said.
“Ten in a row is nice,” said Lindholm, who deflected a Gaudreau shot into the net with 47 seconds left for the winning goal on Monday. “Ten in a row, that’s good. We were struggling a little bit there before we started this streak. It was nice to see it go in. Ten in a row feels good.”
Vancouver bounced back from an ugly 7-4 loss to visiting Anaheim on Saturday — the Canucks fell behind 5-0 in the first 25 minutes — to defeat Seattle 5-2 on Monday, outshooting the Kraken 46-27 in the process. Tyler Motte scored 11 seconds into the contest, the fastest goal to start a game by any player this season, and also had an assist.
Vancouver coach Bruce Boudreau said his team is well aware of the challenge they face in trying to slow down the NHL’s hottest team.
“Obviously if you watch their games they’re playing at the top of their level right now,” Boudreau said. “I hope it’s the top of their game. They’ve been great. It’s a great challenge for us. It’s a great challenge for every team they play. You either embrace the challenge or you’re afraid of it. And hopefully we’re going to embrace the challenge.”
The Canucks split the first two contests of a three-game homestand. They open a four-game road trip Sunday against the New York Rangers.
–Field Level Media