Four different goal scorers come through as the Flames run their winning streak to four games

Four straight victories, capped by a gritted-out 4-2 home win over the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday. It’s not the first time the Calgary Flames have cobbled together a four-game winning streak, but feels different than the others.

The difference coach Ryan Huska sees from this team during this run — and not because it has come against four clubs solidly holding playoff positions — is the way in which the Flames have earned those victories.

“We’re doing things the right way,” said Huska, who called the success sustainable. “It’s not just one guy that’s contributing. Jacob (Markstrom) has had a huge impact in it, Vladdy (Dan Vladar) had a huge impact in Edmonton, but it’s been a team game. We’ve played with pace, I think we’ve played hard and we’ve executed.”

Thanks to a win in which Andrew Mangiapane, Blake Coleman, Yegor Sharangovich and Mikael Backlund all scored and Markstrom’s 20-save performance deserves more praise than you  would think, the Flames pulled themselves all the closer to a playoff position.

The Kings, who were swept during a trip through Alberta and have lost three of four games, are tied with the Nashville Predators for the two Western Conference wild-card spot with 68 points. The Flames (29-25-5, 63 points) are next, five points back of those clubs, after leapfrogging both the St. Louis Blues and Minnesota Wild with Tuesday’s win.

With 23 games remaining on the schedule, watching the standings will be part of the routine.

“I’m going to check it, but it’s out of our control, to watch and hope for teams to lose or other teams to beat teams ahead of us,” said Mangiapane, who tallied in his 400th career game. “There’s still lots of games and we can’t really focus on that. We’ve got to focus in here, and keep building on what we’re doing right now.”

What happens between now and the March 8 trade deadline, not to mention the impact of any roster deletions — with defencemen Chris Tanev and Noah Hanifin the most likely candidates, remains to be seen.

To their credit, the Flames are pushing and making a statement against quality opposition.