Post-game reflection: How to take this one?

So, the Flames phoned it in from GM Place tonight, and I wonder how this will affect the team’s psyche going into the final three games.

Brian suggested to me this evening that the Flames could use a good wake-up call like this right now. I think there’s some merit to this, especially since this loss bumps Calgary down to seventh place. This team now ill-afford to sleep through games, and this should give them some much needed urgency. At the same time, we’re now starting to string losses together (one more and I’ll call it a streak). That’s the kind of trend that a team needs to avoid ahead of the post season. Lately I’ve been thinking back to the late season losses last season that saw us barely hang onto the eighth seed. I fear that a similar trend would yield similar first-round results this season.

Could there be a more satisfying way to buck the trend than to also devastate the Oilers’ playoff hopes on Tuesday night? I can’t think of one. Let’s hope that we can pull out a big win on Rexall ice.

One notable positive that I did see tonight was Keenan’s use of the bench after the game was out of hand. Dustin Boyd was given ample ice time, especially on the penalty kill, and displayed a competence out there that should earn him more ice time in the coming games. Outside of that, though, I’m glad I opted to enjoy the Hurricanes’ win tonight rather than sit through the Flames’ performance in its entirety.