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Flames look to refuel at home

It’s getting late early for the Calgary Flames.As of Monday, the Flames (6-12-1) were 11 points behind their pace of a year ago. Ranked 28th in the NHL near the quarter mark of the season, Calgary still has time to recover the resilience that propelled them to a surprising post-season berth and the second round of playoffs in 2014-15.

CALGARY — It’s getting late early for the Calgary Flames.

As of Monday, the Flames (6-12-1) were 11 points behind their pace of a year ago. Ranked 28th in the NHL near the quarter mark of the season, Calgary still has time to recover the resilience that propelled them to a surprising post-season berth and the second round of playoffs in 2014-15.

But given how few points separate the playoff-teams from non-playoff teams in the Western Conference, the Flames were aware their position was already becoming precarious.

“We still have time, but we don’t have time to lose games and figure we’re going to catch up later on,” head coach Bob Hartley said Monday. “We need to start catching up right now.”

Calgary concluded a 1-3 road trip by getting dominated 4-1 by the defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday.

The Flames open a three-game homestand Tuesday against the New Jersey Devils, winners of seven of their last 10. There’s a rematch with the Blackhawks at the Scotiabank Saddledome on Friday followed by a visit from the Anaheim Ducks next week.

“If you’re not getting frustrated by losing you won’t last very long in this league,” Flames forward Joe Colborne said.

“We’re frustrated in that aspect, but we believe in ourselves. We’ve got a big homestand here and then we’re heading right back out on the road, so we’ve got to start stringing some wins together. It’s got to start to soon.”

Calgary won only two of its first 19 games in regulation. But the most glaring Flames statistic is their league-worst 79 goals against, which is 10 more than the second-worst Columbus Blue Jackets.

Calgary continues to lead the league in blocked shots (326) and isn’t allowing significantly more shots per game than last season at 30.9. But defensive miscues and inconsistent goaltending have contributed to a plus-minus of minus-27.

The Flames were back to three goaltenders at Monday’s practice. Jonas Hiller skated with the team for the first time since injuring his hip during a game against Ottawa on Oct. 29.

Karri Ramo (4-7) will get his ninth straight start Tuesday against the Devils with Joni Ortio at backup. Almost 20 games into the season, the Flames still have three goalies on one-way contracts.

“When the medical staff will tell us that Hills is good to be in the lineup, that’s when we’re going to sit as an organization and we’re going to come up with best possible decision,” Hartley said.

The Flames were a playoff team for the first time in six years last spring in what was supposed to be the second season of a rebuild.

Calgary made the post-season despite an eight-game losing skid in December and losing their captain Mark Giordano to injury for the final quarter of the regular season.

Colborne felt the Flames were getting back to their relentless style of last season in the half-dozen games prior to facing Chicago.

“We get back to that. I think we’ll be able to right the ship,” he said. “From the goalies to the defence to the forwards, we believe in this group and it’s a matter of execution right now.”

Forward Derek Grant was assigned to the AHL club in Stockton, Calif., after nine games with the Flames. Hartley says the move wasn’t to make room on the active roster for Hiller.

“We felt that now we’re fairly healthy and we wanted (Grant) to play even more,” Hartley explained. “We have plenty of bodies to play, so we’re not set yet on whether we call up another guy or not.”