The Calgary Flames streak of consecutive home wins was brought to an abrupt halt as the Anaheim Ducks downed them 1-0 at the Scotiabank Saddledome.
More from Flame for Thought
- Updates from Conroy: UFAs, main camp, captaincy, goaltending, prospects
- Fantasy Hockey: Potential Calgary Flames sleeper picks
- Flames captaincy updates and candidate rankings
- Camp Notes: Previewing Calgary Flames Prospects at the Young Stars Classic
- Could Flames goalie Dan Vladar be a trade option for the Avalanche?
In a cagey affair, the Anaheim Ducks showed an innate ability to keep the puck moving with no real pace through the neutral zone and limited the Calgary Flames attempts on net to just fourteen.
One goal was all it took to take the win; with both goaltenders not figuring hugely in the action.
For the Calgary Flames, this result certainly showed a solid defensive effort with limited goals against, which isn’t a bad thing.
However, to have their strong attacking unit shut out is rather a disappointing end to the eleven game winning streak at home.
The winning streak ending may yet be a good thing; it may allow the Calgary Flames a chance to re-focus and forget about any streaks or records.
Hopefully for the Calgary Flames this will mark a bit of a reset; too often they seemed to focus on moving the puck around without putting the puck into the dangerous zones in front of John Gibson in the Anaheim net.
Calgary Flames forward, Michael Ferland summed this up this thinking on the Flames Twitter account; “it’s tough but we’ve got to get ready for the next game,” he said.
"It's tough but we've got to get ready for the next game." - Ferland on the home winning streak being snapped pic.twitter.com/eDnfQ6pE1K
— Calgary Flames (@NHLFlames) December 30, 2015
With the Los Angeles Kings heading into town for the Calgary Flames final game of 2015, that’s the definite hope.
In fact, maybe the aggression they showed post-buzzer will serve to spur them forward; several Calgary Flames players taking exception to Ryan Kesler netting the puck on an empty net a time after the buzzer.
On the basis of that encounter, the Calgary Flames team spirit and willingness to get stuck in for their teammates isn’t in doubt; it’s only their style of play on this occasion in question.
Next: Calgary Flames Should Claim David Rundblad
What did you think of the Calgary Flames performance against Anaheim? Did it seem to you like they were suffering a bit of a Christmas hangover out there? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.