What's The Frequency, Ladislav? (This Week In Flames Hockey)

Last Week

The Flames have seen better days, but we caught a glimmer of future hope this week when they earned consecutive home victories over the Phoenix Coyotes and the Nashville Predators. Overall, they have earned points in three of their last four matchups, with several winnable key matchups on the horizon.

This week, the Flames started out with a 3-2 loss to the Sharks in San Jose on Monday. Here's Arii's expert M&G recap.

Flames @ Sharks Highlights 01/20/14 (via NHL)

After that close call, the Flames headed back to Calgary for a five-game homestand. Coming in, they had lost their previous seven games on home ice, scoring only four times in 420 minutes. They started out by taking on the Phoenix Coyotes on Wednesday, with a 3-2 win in regulation. Here's Ruhee's recap.

Coyotes @ Flames Highlights 01/22/14 (via NHL)

Eric Nystrom scored four times for the Nashville Predators on Friday night, but the Flames rode goals from Mikael Backlund, Mark Giordano, and two from David Jones to match him. Sean Monahan iced it in the fourth round of the skills competition to stake a 5-4 victory. Here's another recap from Arii.

Predators @ Flames Highlights 01/24/14 (via NHL)

Looking Ahead

The Flames have three more home games on tap this week before heading out on the road again. They'll start out by hosting the defending Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday. After a night off, they'll host the Sharks on Thursday and battle the Minnesota Wild on Saturday night.

After facing the Wild, the Flames will play three on the road, in Montreal, New York (Islanders), and Philadelphia before taking 19 days off for the Olympic tournament. With six games between now and then, the Flames have a chance to enter the break on a high note. Still, they'd have to earn 50 of a possible 60 points between now and the end of the season to garner serious playoff hopes. Look for some personnel moves prior to the trade deadine in the coming weeks as some of the more serious contenders look to stuff their cupboard for a little extra firepower to close out the season.

Tune in on Tuesday for all the pre-game and post-game coverage you could ever need as the Flames take on the Blackhawks.