'There is no poor team in the NHL and, you know, every game’s an important game for us and that’s the way we want our players to approach it,' said Flames head coach Ryan Huska

By pretty much any definition, the Calgary Flames are facing a brutal schedule over the next two weeks.

Starting with Thursday night’s matchup with the Colorado Avalanche, the Flames will face three of the four teams who played in last season’s conference finals and have a couple more tough games sandwiched in there, too.

For a team that’s started the season with three straight losses and has been outscored 16-3, it’s a daunting gauntlet and the type of stretch that could end up being sink or swim.

“I feel like we’re feeling pretty urgent already,” said Flames centre Morgan Frost. “Definitely got to get in the win column and yeah, some good teams, it’ll be a good test and we’ll see how we respond. Obviously, not the start we want to have.”

After they take on the Nathan MacKinnon and the Avs on Thursday, the Flames’ schedule will pit them against the ascending Anaheim Ducks on Saturday and Tuesday, followed by a road game in Vegas against the Golden Knights on Oct. 15 and a home date with the Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes on the 18th. The Minnesota Wild then wrap up that two-week stretch with another game at the Saddledome.

A cynic would say it’s entirely possible that the Flames could lose every one of those games if they play the way they did in two games against the Seattle Kraken and last Saturday’s loss to the Vancouver Canucks.

Conversely, if the Flames can find some momentum and win a few over the next couple of weeks, it would give them something real to rally around.

“There is no poor team in the NHL and, you know, every game’s an important game for us and that’s the way we want our players to approach it,” said Flames head coach Ryan Huska. “It’s always about what’s right in front of you; you don’t want to look too far down the road.

“I often laugh when people say ‘strength of schedule’ in the NHL. ‘It’s an easier stretch’ or ‘it’s a tougher stretch.’ There’s no easy game in the NHL. Every team’s good. Every team’s got players that have been there, done that, won the Stanley Cup. So you focus on the game that’s right in front of you and that’s what we’re going to do tonight.”

The Flames were happy with the couple of days of practice they had between Sunday’s loss to the Kraken and Thursday’s matchup with the Avs. They’ll be getting some new, young, hungry faces into the lineup against Colorado in the form of Jonathan Castagna and Aydar Suniev, both of whom had strong training camps.

For a team that wanted to start the year strong, the way things have gone in the first week of the season has been discouraging. The rest of October is tough, and they need to get their game right in a hurry — regardless of who they’re playing.

“You know, you’re playing an NHL team every night,” said Flames blueliner Kevin Bahl. “That urgency’s gotta be there regardless of, you know, playing the Colorado Avalanche or whoever that is, right? You’ve gotta bring it every night and then if you do get quote-unquote easier competition, you’ve got to take advantage of that.”