Things just keeps getting worse for the Calgary Flames.
Entering a back-to-back against the New York Rangers and New York Islanders in desperate need of points the Flames failed to accumulate any as they suffered consecutive losses by an aggregate score of 8-1.
As a result the Flames are now 2-7-0 through nine games and are at serious risk of digging a hole too big to crawl out of in an ultra competitive Western Conference.
Considering there are 73 games remaining on the schedule that may sound crazy but I assure you it is not.
Last season the Flames needed 97 points to make the playoffs and they finished 8th in the Western Conference in terms of points. In order to reach that total again the Flames would have to go 43-23-7 from this point forward.
That's a lot to ask for any team; especially one that has played as poorly as the Flames have thus far.
Forget about winning games. The Flames are struggling to even keep them close as they have lost by two goals or more six times and by three goals or more five times.
A big reason for their struggles has been goaltending as they have a dreadful .875 team save percentage on the year and have allowed at least three goals in seven of their nine games.
It's not fair to put the losses entirely on goaltending, though, as there have been a lot of defensive breakdowns and they've been peppered with shots on a regular basis.
The Flames are allowing more than 31 shots per game on average. They have not only been outshot seven times but on four separate occasions they lost the shot battle by at least 10.
The Flames have scored just 16 goals in nine games (1.77 per) so things aren't going too well offensively, either.
To this point they have not resembled anything close to a playoff team and if they don't shape up fast they won't be one.
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