from George Johnson of the Calgary Herald,

They’ve lost four straight, all on home ice, three by shutout, and are colder’n a mother-in-law’s kiss in front of the goal.

And yet taken as a 41-game block, so far, halfway through the long-anticipated, now-sobering “rebuild” season, the Calgary Flames, given everyone’s subterranean expectations, could actually be considered something of a mildly pleasant surprise.

So far.

Nothing to pop a bottle of vintage Moet Chandon over certainly. Or enough to make anyone actually buy into that noisy PR rhetoric about “fast-tracking” the competitive progression.

But hey, could be worse. Could be Edmonton.

As the second half of the season opens Monday night at the Pepsi Center against Patrick Roy’s prodigious, precocious Colorado Avalanche, though, these against-all-odds Flames appear to have reached an exceedingly dangerous time within a uniquely delicate moment:

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