from Eric Francis of Sportsnet,

The evidence is indisputable, the Calgary Flames are still a tier or two down from being amongst the league’s elite.

No newsflash there.

No shame either, as the team just capped a gruelling trip with consecutive losses to three of the league’s top five outfits.

Supporters can take solace in the fact that in all three affairs the Flames found a way to keep the game close, for varying stretches, despite being clearly outplayed.

However, all three games got away from them in the third and wound up being convincing losses that saw the Panthers score five unanswered goals; the Lightning score four straight; and the Hurricanes post an uninterrupted quartet.

Some might call them lapses, others would deem them inevitabilities.

Either way, they added up to a humbling punctuation on measuring stick games that saw the Flames outscored 16-6.

That’s not how they hoped or envisioned stacking up against the east’s beasts.

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