Is that really the Calgary Flames who are ripping up the NHL's Western Conference?
Precious few of us saw this coming, a 13-3-4 run in their last 20 games that put the Flames in the eighth and last playoff position with a 27-21-7 record and 61 points. By the time general manager Darryl Sutter was fired on Dec. 28, the Flames were a mess, with aging lineup and a goaltender who seemed to have lost his way.
Such a turnaround cannot be pinned on firing the GM, since most of the players Sutter mistakenly pinned his hopes on are still there. Younger brother Brent Sutter, once under as much fire as Darryl, can take some credit here. He has the Flames pulling in the same direction for a change, finally playing that physical, fore-checking game the coach likes.
But there are several reasons for the turnaround. First, as Brian Burke likes to say, it all starts in goal. Mikka Kiprusoff rediscovered his old form in the last few weeks, which makes the Flames a stingy defensive team.
More importantly, it makes the Flames a tough team to face in shootouts, which is the key to trying to make up ground in the NHL playoff race. Thanks to the three-point games, which award a single point for losing in overtime or a shootout, it is a Sisyphean task to make up a large amount of ground in the playoff race.
The only way to do it is to make sure you win in regulation, so division or conference rivals do not pick up those one-point scraps, or make sure you win in overtime or the shootout. Since their 20-game run started, the Flames managed to do that, losing just four times in overtime or a shootout. And they have seven wins in 11 shootouts this season, which makes them the league's best in that category.
The only problem is this could hurt the Flames if a tiebreaker is needed to decide a playoff spot or two. This season, to encourage teams to go for a goal late in regulation or overtime to make games more entertaining the NHL decreed only regulation and overtime wins will count for purposes of deciding the first tiebreaker – total wins.
Aside from Kiprusoff, the Flames can also thank a tight penalty-killing unit and a hot power play for their surge. In the seven games before Monday's 3-1 win over the Chicago Blackhawks, the Calgary penalty-killers went 22-for-24 for an impressive .917 success percentage.