There’s a lot of hockey to be played.
And, in the case of the Calgary Flames, a lot of room for improvement.
The Flames now have 20 NHL games in the rear-view mirror, hitting what is treated as the quarter-mark of their regular-season schedule with a 10-7-3 record.
“I think no matter where we are in the standings, we just feel like we have a lot better,” assessed third-line centre Derek Ryan. “We’re trending in the right direction. We’ve been playing better, playing more of a full 60-minute effort, which is important for us as the season rolls on.
“But we just know as a group, the level that we have, the standard that we have … and we’re yet to reach it, I feel like.”
With 62 games to go, there’s plenty of time to peak.
For the sake of comparison, the Flames were 11-8-1 after 20 twirls last season — good for the exact same number of points they now have — before eventually climbing to the top of the Western Conference standings. They have been dogged by inconsistency in the opening weeks of the 2019-20 campaign, but with a 4-1-1 record in their past six skates, there is optimism that they’re turning a corner.
“I just like the way we’re trending,” said Flames head coach Bill Peters.
Heading into Tuesday’s action, the Flames were sitting second in the Pacific Division, although every other club has games in hand.
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