CALGARY -- Don't throw out that Calgary Flames' car flag just yet.
While most everyone in the city by the foothills was ready to count their NHL team out of any 2010-11 postseason contention a mere month ago, lo and behold the Flames have rekindled that fading hope in a significant way.
The Flames (24-21-6) have won four straight games, beating the Dallas Stars, Vancouver Canucks, Nashville Predators and St. Louis Blues. They head into the All-Star break just two points out of the coveted eighth spot in the Western Division.
And what a difference a week makes.
Earlier in January, Calgary was nine points in arrears; just last week, after dropping an embarrassing 6-0 game to Minnesota, the Flames were eight back and, had they reached double digits, the nails were poised to be pounded into their season.
But since then, they've leapfrogged a couple of teams, Columbus and St. Louis, and are a scant point behind Los Angeles and Minnesota. Whether they can keep up the pace once play resumes next week is the million-dollar question.
"When you're riding it, ride it,'' said Flames head coach Brent Sutter of the current wave of momentum. "Our outlook is no different than it was a month ago. Get ready to play games, let's work hard doing it and we'll see what the end result will be. We have goals and it's another step in that direction.''
The players are heading into the four-day hiatus with a renewed confidence.
"We just want to keep doing what we're doing,'' suggested captain Jarome Iginla, who has found his touch around the net with 22 goals. "Make sure we're skating, make sure we're working, make sure we're competing and getting those chances. Keep doing what we're doing. It doesn't matter what team we're playing. We want to keep our momentum going.
"We haven't talked about getting ahead of ourselves. It's about keeping our goals and our focus; winning two out of three. Guys are starting to feel better about themselves and about their games. We want to keep that going. We'll take a break, take a rest, but maybe catch a few more teams and move forward.''
Iginla was the lone Flame selected to the All-Star Game but opted instead to spend time with his family, in particular his ailing grandmother.
Tim Jackman, whose hard-nosed, energetic play has obviously rubbed off on the rest of the team, talked briefly about confidence.
"We have a pretty good feeling in our locker room right now,'' he noted. "It'll be nice to rest and come back and still have that good feeling.''
Among Sutter's tinkering in the last little while: putting veteran Brendan Morrison on the No. 1 line with Iginla and Alex Tanguay and placing some of the tougher nuts -- like Jackman and David Moss -- in front of the net on the power play, which has improved slightly to a 16.2 percent clip.
"Mo's a real smart player,'' Sutter said of Morrison. "He's got great vision on the ice; he's just a very good hockey player and it's helped out with the chemistry with Jarome and Tangs. Our power play wasn't at the level we needed and we continue to change things. We needed more of a net presence.
"It's a gut feeling you have. Some personnel needed to change."
Speaking of personnel changes, the Flames were busy at it again on Thursday, placing underachieving right winger Ales Kotalik on waivers, the second player this week as Craig Conroy cleared waivers on Wednesday. The 32-year-old Kotalik has just three goals in 20 appearances. He missed nearly two months of the season with a knee injury and upon his return has been a healthy scratch on a few occasions.
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