Calgary captain Jarome Iginla believes that everyone on the Flames roster needs to step up their game in order for the team to break out of its scoring funk. (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)The Calgary Flames sure picked the wrong time to go into a scoring tailspin.
The Northwest Division-leading Flames have been shut out in their last two games and haven't scored since registering a 5-3 victory over the Detroit Red Wings on March 23.
Calgary will be looking to end their goal drought and put a little more distance between themselves and the Vancouver Canucks when it hosts the Minnesota Wild on Saturday (CBC, CBCSports.ca, 10 p.m. ET).
Looking to capture its first division title since 2005-06, Calgary enters Saturday's contest on a horrible scoring slump, having gone 120 minutes and 28 seconds without a goal.
If the Flames are blanked for another 62:14, they will break the old team record for scoring futility set from Nov. 5-11, 2002.
Captain Jarome Iginla believes that everyone needs to step up their game in order for the Flames to break out of their scoring funk.
"If you look through our lineup — every one of us — we all need to be better," Iginla told the Calgary Sun following a 5-0 loss to Columbus on Thursday, which came on the heels of a 2-0 defeat to Pittsburgh the night before.
"You don't always say that. Sometimes, half the team could be going really well. Right now, we all need to be better. It's time to look at ourselves. We all bring different things."
Complicating matters for Calgary is the fact that Vancouver is hot on its trail.
The Flames lead the Northwest Division with 90 points and eight games left in the regular season. Vancouver is just one point behind Calgary in the race for the Northwest title, which would secure the division winner home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
Needless to say, the chasing Canucks are weighting heavily on the minds of the Flames.
"We're disappointed in the way we're playing," Flames centre Conroy told the Calgary Sun. "We have so much on our minds going into the game, thinking we have to do this and we have to do that. That's the most stressful.
"Your mind is consumed before the game. We're not joking around and having a good time. It's pretty tense in that room and we have to relax a little bit."
The good news for Calgary is that it has enjoyed a great deal of success against Minnesota, having won the four previous games with its Northwest Division rivals this season.
Even more good news for the Flames is that they have won six straight over the Wild in Calgary.
