An awful October might have ended any playoff hopes the Calgary Flames held going into the season.
As November came to an end, though, the Flames (9-14-4) should feel like they’ve righted the ship, if nothing else.
In 15 games this month, the Flames went 7-6-2. That’s better than .500 and earned them the 16th-best point total in the NHL over that period.
That’s progress, right?
Unfortunately, their dreadful 2-8-2 record in October gave them a deep hole to try to dig out of, and the Flames remain in second-last in the NHL’s standings after Sunday’s 1-0 overtime loss to the Carolina Hurricanes (16-7-2).
Things do seem to have stabilized a bit, though. The Flames might not be on the rise, but November showed that they’re better than they looked a month ago.
Here’s three takeaways from Sunday’s game in Raleigh, N.C.:
Flames goaltender Devin Cooley keeps tabs on Hurricanes forward Sebastian Aho.
THE HOT HAND
The Flames do not have a goaltender controversy. Let’s not pretend they do.
But Devin Cooley has made himself a part of the plan.
Sunday’s matchup was the 28-year-old’s fourth start in the Flames’ last six contests and in one of the games he didn’t start he manned the crease for more than 54 minutes after Dustin Wolf was pulled against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Wolf is the starter, but for the last week-and-a-half Cooley’s been doing most of the heavy lifting.
“A lot of it is Devin’s done a really good job, he’s finding a way to get us points and finding a way to make a key save at the right time, so you want to reward him, “ Flames head coach Ryan Huska told reporters post-game.
Cooley was exceptional again against the Hurricanes. He stopped every shot they threw at him in regulation and was certainly not at fault on the overtime winner by Nikolaj Ehlers.
His 1.88 goals-against-average and .930 save percentage through 10 games this season are exceptional numbers for anyone, let alone a backup.
For now, at least, it makes sense that the Flames are rolling with whoever has the hot hand. There’s no doubt that’s Cooley.
Hurricanes forward Nikolaj Ehlers celebrates his overtime goal with Taylor Hall (left) as Flames forward Matt Coronato skates away.
OVERTIME WOES
Overtime has not been kind to the Flames this season.
So far, they haven’t managed to win a game in three-on-three, although they have won two of the four contests they’ve played in that have gone to shootouts.
Sunday’s overtime wasn’t especially pretty and they didn’t manage a shot before the Hurricanes ended things.
“OT has been tough for us,” Blake Coleman told reporters post-game.
There are bigger issues that the Flames need to address than their overtime struggles, and it’s worth noting that they’ve only actually lost twice in added time. But they’ve been outshot 18-6 in the extra frame so far this season, and their minus-12 shot differential is the worst in the NHL.
Flames forward Joel Farabee stretches for the puck as he approaches Hurricanes defenceman Shayne Gostisbehere.
BETTER THAN IT LOOKED
If you only looked at the final score of Sunday’s game, you’d probably get the impression that there wasn’t much action.
And look, we’re not going to claim that a game where the ‘Canes outshot the Flames 17-15 was a barnburner.
It was more entertaining than the final scoreline suggested, though, with both Matt Coronato and Blake Coleman creating multiple solid scoring chances they just couldn’t finish on as Carolina rookie Brandon Bussi recorded his first NHL shutout.
“I had two looks that I’ve got to find a way to score on,” Coleman said. “As a team, we had a couple but we weren’t able to get it past their goalie.”
Ultimately, leaving Raleigh with a point isn’t a bad result for the Flames. They’d have loved to secure two, but they kept things tight against a deep, dangerous opponent.
After beating the Vancouver Canucks and Florida Panthers and falling to the Tampa Bay Lightning on this current grinder of a road trip, a win over the dead-last Nashville Predators on Tuesday would make this feel like a successful stretch.
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