THE STRETCH DRIVE

It's gut-check time.
With 22 games left in their regular season and the Western Conference playoff picture still unclear, the Flames embark on a two-game desert road trip with no illusions about the importance of each remaining contest.

"This is really the man's portion of the schedule," said head coach Glen Gulutzan before his team departed for back-to-back games against the Golden Knights and Coyotes on Wednesday and Thursday.
That first tilt in Vegas will be a particularly tough test. Not only do the surprising expansion Golden Knights sit atop the NHL standings, they have been one of the deadliest teams on home ice this season, amassing a 22-5-2 record at T-Mobile Arena.
Only the Winnipeg Jets, at 23-5-2, and the Pittsburgh Penguins, at 23-7-1, have more wins in their own building.
"We know what it is but we don't want to use it as an anchor either," said Gulutzan when asked about the Golden Knights home record. "We're just going in there to play, we know what's at stake this time of year for us."
The last time the two teams met, the Flames were on the losing end of a tough 4-2 decision. With the Flames leading 2-1 at home with less than two minutes left in the third period, Vegas scored two goals in a span of 10 seconds before adding an empty-netter to steal a road win.
In what will be the second-ever meeting between the two clubs, the Flames - one of the league's best road teams this year at 17-7-5 - are looking to return the favour.
"I think we match up good against them: both quick teams, both play very similar," said Gulutzan. "Obviously we're better on the road. I thought for 58 minutes that was a good hockey game. The last two, two mistakes and it went against us, which doesn't happen all the time but it happened in that game. But I think it's going to be a real good game there."
The Flames will get some reinforcements for the road trip, as Troy Brouwer is expected to return to the lineup against the Golden Knights. Brouwer has missed the last six games with a facial fracture after being hit by a puck against the New Jersey Devils on Feb. 8.
He's looking forward to helping the team continue their roll in opposition arenas, and translating that success into dominance at the Scotiabank Saddledome - where the Flames are 13-14-3 this season - when they return home on Saturday for a tilt against the Avalanche.
"I feel like we have a huge confidence in ourselves on the road. We go into every game thinking that we're going to win," said Brouwer. "At home I feel like sometimes we're just a little bit tentative, we kind of wait and see how the game is going to get dictated and then we start playing according to that, where on the road we just come out hard, we come out fast and we dictate the pace of play, and that's something that we need to just take charge of when we're at home and we should improve our home record in the last couple of months here."
A Stanley Cup champion and a veteran of eight playoff runs, including the Flames postseason appearance last year, Brouwer is one of the team's more seasoned players whose experience should be a boon down the stretch.
"You want guys with experience but you also want that balance of youth and we think we have lots of youth playing right now," said Gulutzan. "But it's nice to get some guys in the lineup that have been there and been in these last 20."
As the Flames enter the final stretch of the regular season, though, they know that experience is only one part of the equation.
"This time of the year is about energy, it's not any different than us last year at this time so this is about energy and hey, we've played enough games, we've just gotta push the last 22," said Gulutzan. "It's who can do the hardest thing the longest, that's our message to the guys, who can do the hardest the longest."