Flames are Canada's only team to net multiple division wins in past decade

Flames are Canada's only team to earn multiple division crowns in the past decade

Candice Ward/USA TODAY Sports

Say what you want about the Calgary Flames and their lack of success in the Stanley Cup Playoffs — and all of that would be warranted — but there’s no shortage of banner-raising bragging rights north of the border.

With a 4-2 win against the Dallas Stars on Thursday night, the Flames clinched the Pacific Division title for the eighth time in franchise history and first since 2018-19, becoming the only Canada-based team to secure multiple division crowns in the past decade.

As you can “C”, the @NHLFlames have clinched the Pacific Division title.

Next stop: #StanleyCup Playoffs.#NHLStats: https://t.co/XxRkGuRyXN pic.twitter.com/HIPbfim5lG

— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) April 22, 2022

“With what we did after the all-star break at home, in our minds, we realized that home-ice is very important,” said alternate captain Matthew Tkachuk, who has helped guide Calgary to an NHL-leading 54 points, by way of a 25-7-4 record, since breaking in early February.

“To get as many games at home and to get the majority of the games in a series in your own building, that’s huge for us. So to clinch the division, that’s great. But we’re not stopping there. We don’t want to. We have bigger goals for our team.”

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The Flames lead the rival Edmonton Oilers by 10 points for first in the Pacific with five games remaining for the team up the QEII. Calgary holds the first tiebreaker between the two, securing home ice for at least the opening two rounds of the playoffs — should they advance that far.

The group has only been beyond the first round once since running all the way to the Final in 2004 — besting the Vancouver Canucks in six games in 2015 before bowing out in five games to the Anaheim Ducks in Round 2.

“The team deserves it, been the most consistent team in the division,” Darryl Sutter deadpanned postgame. “I’ve won lots of ’em.

“It goes up there, and you get nothing for it.”

Except the home-ice advantage Sutter surely covets.

A second-place finish in the Western Conference will certainly help in that.

The Flames hold the edge there, too, with a three-point lead on the Central Division’s Minnesota Wild and St. Louis Blues. That could, pending what the conference-leading Colorado Avalanche does, prompt home ice in a potential West final.

And Calgary is aiming that high.

They do have a ways to go to catch up with some other Canadian squads on the playoff-success front, after all.

“Like Chucky said, we’re not satisfied yet,” said Mikael Backlund, the longest-tenured member of the Flames. “We want to do something really big here. We know we can do it. But it’s an accomplishment to win the division. It’s a long season. The guys have done a great job, and I’m really proud of our team.”