Takeaways from the Calgary Flames' 4-2 disappointing road loss to the Nashville Predators

Now the Calgary Flames reach the difficult part of their schedule.

As bleak as things look for the Flames (7-9-3) after their dismal 4-2 loss to the Nashville Predators on Wednesday, that was actually an easier part of their season.

The next 15 games — starting with a back-to-back set against the Dallas Stars and Colorado Avalanche to end this four-game road trip — will let us know exactly where the Flames stand.

Between now and the holiday break, the Flames face the Stars, Avalanche and Vegas Golden Knights, all league powerhouses, twice each. During the 15 coming games, 11 are against clubs currently in a playoff position, with the outliers being a pair against the under-achieving Minnesota Wild, another against the under-achieving-due-to-injuries New Jersey Devils and the Anaheim Ducks, who held a wild-card spot until their home loss on Wednesday against the Montreal Canadiens.

By comparison, 10 of Calgary’s first 19 games were against teams currently in playoff positions.

The turkey they served up in Nashville was a chance to go into this stretch with momentum. Instead, the Flames — as coach Ryan Huska said — were “slow and sloppy” yet again.

Huska added when speaking to the media: “It was a step back tonight, but now it's how you respond.”

For the next month, the Flames will be a team regularly needing upset victories. Time will tell whether this squad is up for that challenge.

Here are three more thoughts from the Nashville game.

No-power play

As poorly as the Flames played, they actually had every chance to beat the Predators. The big killer was their power play, which was blanked on all four chances.

When given a man-advantage, they surrendered any potential momentum, surrendered one short-handed goal, managed only one shot on goal over the first three advantages and barely even provided a push.

Even getting the puck into the offensive zone was a farcical endeavour, with the same play to break into Nashville territory repeatedly failing to work. And when the Flames actually managed to break through, they were constantly outworked and somehow out-manned at too many puck battles.

Topping off that failure, this was against a Predators team that had the 30th ranked penalty kill.

Sleight of hand

As much as the Flames have themselves to blame, they do have a legitimate beef with the officiating failure that all but put away the game midway through the third period.

With Calgary down 2-1, the referees missed that Nashville’s Filip Forsberg caught the puck behind the Flames net, cradled it in his hand briefly and threw it to the front. Flames defenseman MacKenzie Weegar chopped the puck away from the crease — negating any play being ruled a hand-pass — but Alex Carrier scored right away. Calgary asked for a review, but there was no hand-pass, so the goal couldn’t be overturned.

Under rule 67.2, Forsberg’s play is a penalty, and the officials missed it. You can debate whether the Flames were playing well enough to tie the game, but their chances plummeted.

Fourth-line follies

With games on back-to-back nights, the Flames will be forced to rely on their fourth line, but understandably Huska has little reason to show faith in the trio of Adam Ruzicka, Walker Duehr and A.J. Greer. Calgary’s fourth line was actually a positive early in the season, has struggled of late and was a disaster in Nashville.

In the crosshairs must be Ruzicka, whose effort increases when given a role in the top three lines, but wanes when he plays on the fourth unit. Right from the start of training camp, the Flames provided every opportunity for the big and talented forward to claim a bigger role. At some point, the onus is on Ruzicka to produce regardless where he plays.

As for Duehr, he certainly lacks the same spark we saw in the second half of last season.

At some point, the Flames will either have a player return from injury or want to summon Matt Coronato from the minors. Those skating on the fourth line right now shouldn’t feel too comfortable.