Calgary Flames Daily: Another loss, Mark Giordano’s 700th game

The Calgary Flames had yet another setback last night to finish their four-game homestand going 1-3-0. More Flames news here.

The Calgary Flames ended their homestand on a low note. They went 1-3-0 with three disappointing losses. The only team they walked away with a win against was the league-worst Arizona Coyotes. All their losses were poor efforts with some bad plays from their defencemen. They almost had an impressive comeback against the Edmonton Oilers, but it’s hard to win a game when you only play hard for about 15 minutes.

With a road trip playing against Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens, two teams who have been playing quite well, with the Habs on a win-streak and the Leafs with their offence, the Flames really need to turn it around. Or their playoff dreams are done for.

They absolutely cannot play like they have been on this homestand or they will get absolutely crushed. But Mike Smith seems to think this team can turn it around. After all, tomorrow’s a new day.

Via Calgary Flames:

“That’s the beauty of this game,” said Flames’ goaltender Mike Smith, tucking gear into his equipment bag for a later-than-anticipated Monday morning departure. “There’s another game tomorrow.“We haven’t played up to our potential and we need to get it going. (Adversity) can only make you stronger. It depends on how you look at things.“You can feel sorry for yourself and keep bumping along or you can grab onto it, learn from, push forward and improve because of it.“We feel we still have a lot to prove.“There’s been some inconsistencies in our game. We want to clean that. We’ve talked about it enough. We’ve got to go do it.“It starts on the ice.”

On the plus side, Calgary Flames captain Mark Giordano played in his 700th NHL game yesterday. After going undrafted and playing a year in Russia, not knowing if he was going to be given a real shot in the NHL, he’s proven that anybody can do it.

Via Calgary Sun:

“I want to play another 700 if I can, if the body holds up,” Giordano told a crowd of reporters after Thursday’s morning skate. “It’s pretty cool to look back and reflect when you hit a number, but it’s still only 700. There’s a lot more games, hopefully, that I can play.”“You know what? It really helped my career,” Giordano said of that season with Moscow Dynamo, where he totalled five goals, 19 points and 124 penalty minutes in 59 games, including nine playoff showdowns. “I played a lot. I played a big role. And I feel when I came back to Calgary, I played a bigger role here too when I came back.“Ten years later, I think it went a long way to the player I am. I came back here with a lot more confidence than when I left, and I think that’s what really was the biggest thing.”

Like Smith said, tomorrow night is a new game. And like the Canadiens have shown, anybody can turn their seasons around.

Flames Tweet of the day

Hockey Tweet of the day

Some links surrounding the Flames

Calgary Flames Prospect Report: 2017 draft picks improving (Sportsnet).

Flames Thoughts: Poor game management costs Calgary again (Sportsnet).

Seattle arena deal has Calgary Flames fans on edge again (660 News).

Milestone holds great significance to Flames captain Giordano (Calgary Sun).

Some links surrounding hockey and the NHL

FanDuel daily picks: Fantasy Hockey lineup – December 5, 2017 (FanSided).

NHL fans, meet Seattle: Could a 32nd franchise put an end to future lockouts? (National Post).

Ovechkin model of consistency for Capitals (NHL.com).

How IOC’s decision could impact Team Canada and Olympic hockey (Sportsnet).

Next: 12 Days of Flames Christmas - 2017 edition

That’s all in today’s Flames Daily!