Calgary is red hot at home, but where do they stand historically?

“We’re going streaking!” Will Ferrell made the line popular in the movie “Old School,” but the Calgary Flames are making it popular in Alberta these days. The Flames are red hot. How hot? 11 straight victories in the confines of the Scotiabank Saddledome and a chance to take it to 12 on Tuesday night against the struggling Ducks. The current run by the Flames has set a franchise record that includes the team’s time in Atlanta. In 43 years that the Flames have been playing hockey, the longest streak was in 2005-06 which was 10.

This streak is impressive, but where does this streak stand in NHL history? Well, the Flames have some work to do if they want to take the mantle for All Time wins in a row at home. That streak belongs to the 2011-12 Detroit Red Wings. That team reeled of an impressive 23 game home win streak! 23! That’s along way to go for the Flames. Detroit took the home ice from November 9, 2011 to February 19, 2012 and smashed their opponents. The Wings knocked off the 1929-30 Boston Bruins and the 1975-76 Philadelphia Flyers who had impressive win streaks of 20 games of their own. Detroit took their 23 game win streak into a February 23rd tilt with the Vancouver Canucks and lost 4-3 in a shootout. Streak over. How good was Detroit during that streak? Take a look:

Now let’s see where the Flames rank. Calgary has a very nice streak of 11 in a row at home. Calgary’s streak started back on November 5th and they extended it last night with a 5-3 win over the Edmonton Oilers in Round 3 of the Battle of Alberta.

The Flames are a little under halfway to Detroit's record for home wins in a row. The boys from Calgary have been getting it done with a flair for the dramatic. Their GF/GA is impressive and they've gotten some timely goal tending along the way to keep them going. To get to 23 they have to go through Anaheim (2), LA, Tampa, Arizona, San Jose, Florida, Nashville, Carolina, Columbus, Toronto and Minnesota. That gauntlet would take them through February 17, 2016. It's a similar time frame to when Detroit got going in 2011-12. The end result for that Red Wings team? Tossed in the first round of the playoffs. Here's to hoping Calgary has a better END result than that Red Wings team. 11, 12, or 23 games it really doesn't matter. Would we like to see the Flames challenge that record? Of course. But if the Flames keep playing the inspired hockey they are playing now, the playoffs will be a much more exciting and fulfilling goal.

by Mark Parkinson