Quest for .500: The Calgary Flames head to SoCal with a target in mind

Flames looking for their first three-game winning streak of the season to close the gap on the Western Conference's wild-card positions

Two games remain for the Calgary Flames before the holiday break.

A jump into one of the two Western Conference wild-card spots would be a tall order, but the Flames head into Thursday’s clash with the Anaheim Ducks and Saturday’s tilt against the Los Angeles Kings with a target in mind: a .500 record.

With their 13-14-5 mark, the Flames have a legitimate hope to hit the break at or even better than the NHL’s version of .500.

“It’s been a goal for a while,” defenceman Chris Tanev told the assembled media on Thursday before the team departed for Southern California. “We’ve gotten to .500 and then we lose a couple games, that’s something that would be awesome. Moreso, our goal is just to get closer to that wild card. We have two big games, if we win both that’d put us in a great position to be able to track down some teams ahead of us.”

The Flames, who are looking for their first three-game winning streak of the season, clawed to the break-even mark with their Nov. 30 victory over the Dallas Stars (10-10-3), but then won only once in seven outings.

Anaheim (12-19-0) plummeted in the standings by losing 13 of 14 games — all in regulation time — but return home after closing out a road trip with wins over the New Jersey Devils and Detroit Red Wings.

The Kings (18-7-4) sit third in the Pacific Division, but have a handful of games in hand on both the Vancouver Canucks and Vegas Golden Knights, who are both ahead of them.

Claiming a pair of victories in Southern California will be a tall order for the Flames, but possible.

“We have to keep finding ways to win games, and our job now is to try to chase the teams down that are in front of us,” coach Ryan Huska said. “By doing that, it’ll allow us to get to the .500 mark. Our play over the last little while has been improved, so we just have to make sure we keep that for these two games before Christmas."

“We’ve been playing some really good hockey as of late and it’s heading in the right direction,” added defenceman Noah Hanifin. “Christmas break is obviously that marking point that most teams look at to see where they’re at, so if we can get over .500 and closer to that wild card spot, it’s a good position for us.”