Calgary Flames begin to free fall

While other Canadian teams are surging, one team in Alberta is having trouble keeping up.

Following losses on Saturday and Sunday to the Philadelphia Flyers and Chicago Blackhawks, respectively, the Calgary Flames are struggling to stay in in the Wild Card picture in the wild Western Conference.

Despite putting together a three-game win streak last week, Calgary is back below the .500 mark. As has been the problem for most of the season, the offense was not apparent over the weekend. The concern around Jonathan Huberdeau has subsided a little, as the winger put up a goal in the loss to the Flyers, before assisting on two of the Flames’ goals on Sunday in Chicago.

Yet, some of their key scoring threats, like Elias Lindholm and Yegor Sharangovich were held at bay in defeat.

While they heavily outplayed the Hawks, the Flames were unable to calm the Flyers attack on Saturday, getting outshot 42-24, forcing Jacob Markstrom to make some big saves to keep the game close.

Coming into the new week, Calgary (17-18-5) is seventh in the Pacific Division, seven points back of the Los Angeles Kings for third place, though they are just two points out of a Wild Card spot.

On Monday’s edition of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Frank Seravalli and Tyler Yaremchuk discuss what has gone wrong for the Flames, and whether or not GM Craig Conroy should start off-loading talent.

Frank Seravalli: I think the decision is easy at this point for a team that’s sub-.500. You’re not winning with these guys. This team, oddly enough, got through the toughest part of their schedule with a winning record. They went through a slog of some of the best teams in the West, and some of the best in the East, and came through it in fine shape.

It feels early to call it, but I’m not so certain the Flames are even in the race right now.

You can watch the full segment, and the entire episode here…