Calgary Flames: Was Their Winning Streak A False Hope?

The Calgary Flames went into December feeling confident. But after losing three of their last four games, was their six-game win streak all just a false hope?

The Calgary Flames had an excellent start to December. In their first five games, they went 5-0-0 and were on a six-game win streak and a seven-game point streak. Since then, they have now lost three of their last four games.

Was their winning streak all just a false hope?

Last few Decembers

Decembers are weird with the Calgary Flames. It’s usually either super kind to the team or super mean. There is generally no in-between. They’ll never go like 6-5-2. It’s either 8-3-1 or 3-8-1. However, this season, it looks like they might actually go in between. Like I mentioned, they won their first five games of the month and were on a six-game win streak. However in their last four, they’re 1-3-0. Yikes.

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In the 2014-2015 season, they didn’t have a great month. They went 6-7-1 and those eight losses all came in a row. I still remember the day they broke that eight-game losing streak. It was against the LA Kings and Johnny Gaudreau recorded his first hat-trick. The Flames won in overtime and Jonathan Quick wasn’t too happy about that and broke his stick (sorry Quick).

In that eight-game losing streak, they fell out of playoff contention for the first time that season. Spoiler alert, but the Flames made playoffs that year for the first time in six years (yay).

Then last December, it was a little different. The Flames had a bad start to their season, but then December came, and it was pretty nice to them. They broke a franchise record of most consecutive home-wins in a row, with ten of them. The Flames went 9-4-0 that December. But again, spoiler alert, they didn’t make playoffs last season.

So how about now?

Well the Calgary Flames started December out great. They were winning, they were actually scoring more than two goals a game, their special teams were improving drastically, and many of their players were finally stepping up to the plate. Like I mentioned, they had gone the first five games being 5-0-0 and were on a six-game win streak and seven-game point streak. But now, they’ve lost three of their last four games.

Dec 20, 2016; San Jose, CA, USA; San Jose Sharks right wing Joonas Donskoi (27) celebrates scoring a goal against the Calgary Flames in the second period at SAP Center at San Jose. Mandatory Credit: John Hefti-USA TODAY Sports

Right now, they may be in a playoff position but they have some games on hand of the other teams. Based on their points percentage, they’re on the outside looking in. They’re one position out of a playoff spot.

If they lose tonight, because the Winnipeg Jets and the Nashville Predators aren’t playing, they’ll still thankfully be in a playoff position. However, that’s definitely not the position you want to be in.

In their last game against the San Jose Sharks, they lost their powerplay goal streak (eight games), Sean Monahan lost his point streak (ten games), and Johnny Gaudreau lost his point streak as well (eight games). Is this team all of a sudden falling apart? Are we seeing the Flames we saw earlier this season come back to life?

Let’s hope this isn’t the case and let’s hope they can go into the Christmas break with a win. But by the way their last few games were going, it’s definitely not a hopeful sign.