Flames held "come-to-Jesus" players meeting in March: report

Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports

The Calgary Flames are in the thick of a playoff chase, aided by a recent run that includes wins in three of their past four games.

And the turning point might’ve been a players meeting, according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.

“Sure sounds like the Calgary players had a true come-to-Jesus meeting after the horrible 8-2 loss March 20 in Los Angeles,” Friedman wrote in his 32 Thoughts blog published Friday. “No more whining, publicly or privately. Do your job, play hard, push for the playoffs. They are 3-1 since, two points back of Winnipeg — with a huge meeting looming next Wednesday in the Manitoba capital.”

Friday 32 Thoughts Podcast and Blog links. Enjoy both! Written: https://t.co/trW9IBqP7T

— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) March 31, 2023

The Flames have a clear path to the playoffs.

Calgary trails the Winnipeg Jets by two points for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference, and the two teams will meet in a head-to-head match on Wednesday, April 5.

Winnipeg has more regulation wins, the first tiebreaker, and more regulation and overtime wins, the second tiebreaker.

A win against the Vancouver Canucks matched with a Jets loss against the Detroit Red Wings on Friday would see Calgary pull even with Winnipeg.

"We gotta take care of our own business and focus on ourselves."

Rasmus Andersson on the mindset with seven games left on the regular season schedule. pic.twitter.com/LsIxqfuxJo

— Calgary Flames (@NHLFlames) March 30, 2023

“You want to know where you’re at and we’re closer than we’ve been in a little while. But we have to take care of our business and focus on ourselves,” defenceman Rasmus Andersson told media Thursday. “We’ve said it from even when we were furthest away… we still believe in this group. We’re going to fight for every single point there is.

“We’re closer than we’ve been in a little while, but we’ve got to take care of our own business. We’ve just got to grab every point we can get. It sounds boring, but it’s the truth. What is it, seven tough games left? We’ve got to get every point we can get.”

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