October and early November seem a long way in the Flames past these days after hitting the midway point of their NHL season with a 5-2 win over the NY Islanders on Thursday.

   Through 41 of 82 games the Flames are on pace collect 50 wins and 108 points. Plus four players are scoring at 30-plus goal clips and two more are on target for 20-plus goal campaigns. This from a team that had only 19 points after 18 games.

   You have to go back a good distance in Flames history to find comparable numbers.

   The second half still has to play itself out but if the standard set in the first half continues, the Flames will hit the 50-win mark for the first time since 1988-89 from a teams that won the Stanley Cup.  The 108 points would be the club second best ever showing. The ’88-89 club set a record with 117 points.   In their history the Flames have had three 100-point seasons.  The last of which was 2005-06 campaign.

   The last time the Flames had four 30-goal men was 1993-94.  That was also the last time the squad had six players with 20-or-more goals.  That team got the big scoring numbers from Theo Fleury, Joe Nieuwendyk, Robert Reichel, German Titov, Gary Roberts and defenseman Al MacInnis.  That was in an NHL era when many more goals were being scored than in today’s league.

    Concern that the Mike Keenan’s collection might have a big fall off against the league’s worst team after a big win Tuesday against the top team, San Jose, were unfounded. It wasn’t as overwhelming a show from the Flames but both games ended, 5-2.

   The Flames are now a perfect 10-0 against teams that were in last place in their respective divisions prior to Thursday.  Overall they are 12-2-1 vs teams under .500.  Against so-called mid-level teams, which the Flames current category they are 12-6-1. These are all teams with records over .500 not from Detroit, San Jose and Chicago. Against those considered ‘elite’ teams, Calgary has a 1-4-2 mark.

   The one win was the game against the Sharks on Tuesday. If that’s the start of a trend, Calgary could soon get that ‘elite’ tag.

   In 1972 the Flames and New York Islanders joined the NHL together swelling the league to the Original 16 teams.

   Thursday the entrants from 36 years ago clash for the 93rd time and only time this season.

   For the Flames, the game is billed as going from first to worst. As in, on Tuesday they faced the league’s best team, the San Jose Sharks., and won, 5-2.  Now its a meeting with the league’s worst, the Islanders.

   In another storyline, its a tie-breaking game. As in, during the previous 92 games involving the two teams born at the same time, the overall series is tied.  The Flames have 41 wins, the Islanders 41 wins with 10 games ending in ties.

   The clubs have taken much different routes over their 36-year history.

   The Flames started in Atlanta where they had an inglamorous presence in their 8 seasons before moving to Calgary.

   By the time the Flames arrived in Alberta for the 1980-81 season, the Islanders were fresh from winning the first of their 4-straight Stanley Cups from 1980 through 1983.

   The first of three times the Flames advances to the Cup finals in, 1986 the Islanders were in decline.  By the time the Flames captured their first Cup in 1989, the Isles were a last place team.

   The Islanders haven’t been close to the Cup since 1983 while the Flames made their venture to the finals in 2004 losing in 7 games to Tampa.

    Tonight the Flames start the evening 24 points better than their expansion brothers. If they don’t increase it to 26 by the end of the night. The big cheers from Tuesday figure to turn to jeers.

   From time-to-time this season the Flames honor an alumnus at a game.

   Tuesday night it was Lanny McDonald and the former captain must have had his mind wander back to his playing era watching the first period of the Flame-San Jose match.

   The Flames dominated the Sharks as thoroughly as seen in the Saddledome in a long time.

   The team McDonald captained in the late 80′s would do it occasionally.  Those memories were rekindled in the Flames 5-2 win.

   The Flames led the Sharks 2-0 and were outshooting them 15-0  before San Jose was able to muster a shot at Miikka Kiprusoff just before the 17-minute mark.  By the end of the 20 minutes, the Flames prevailed 3-0 after outshooting the NHL’s #1 team 16-4.

   After annexing a 4-0 edge early in the 2nd period the Flames slacked off and the Sharks were able to score a PPG (with a 2-man advantage) and a SHG.  But the Flames took command again in the 3rd to chalk up a victory over one of the Western Conference’s elite clubs for the first time after losing 6-straight to Detroit, Chicago and the Sharks.

   It was pay back for Nov. 13 in San Jose where the Flames were embarrassed, 6-1

   For the second time in 4 games at home, the Flames put up big scoring numbers without offensive input from the #1 line (Iginla, Cammalleri and Conroy).

   Daymond Langkow had a pair of goals while Curtis Glencross and David Moss both had a goal and an assist.  Defenseman Mark Giordano chipped in withn one.

   After the big win, Flame associate coach Jim Playfair properly refused to say the Flames were an elite team.  More victories like Tuesday against the Sharks, Red Wings and Blackhawks would change that assessment.

   The calendar is circled –Nov. 13 — the day the Flames hit bottom.

   Mike Keenan’s crew hasn’t vaulted to the top since the 6-1 setback at San Jose, but they’ve made big advances.

   On the morning of Nov. 14 as the disgruntled Flames boarded their charter flight coming home a day early, there day of bonding cancelled, they were tie for 8th place in the Western Conference 14 points behind the first place Sharks.

   The Flames are now 3rd in the West but have gained just one point on the Sharks as they await Tuesday’s big Saddledome date against the San Jose squad.  However, since Nov. 14, or basically the 2nd quarter of the season, the Flames with a 14-4-3 record for 31 points is 5 points less than the Sharks with the Flames playing one less game.  That’s a major improvement.  Good enough for the Flames to be 3rd best in the West over the past month-and-a-half-or-so and #5 overall in the NHL.

   Standings since Nov. 14:

Western Conference

San Jose    16  2  4  =  36

Detroit       16  5  2  =  34

FLAMES   14  4  3  =  31

Chicago      14  5  2  =  30

Vancouver 12  9  4  =  28

Eastern Conference

Boston        19  3  1  =  39

Philadelpia 16  4  5  =  36

   Perhaps its a misnomer to call the Flames “Comeback Kids” considering the average age ranks them among the oldest team’s in the NHL.

   But their comeback skills, perhaps because of experience, is starting to take on a life of its own.

   Saturday’s 3-2 victory in Nashville marked the 6th time in the Flames current 10-game point streak that they have rallied to gain points. Its happened 4 times in the last 5 games.  Overall Mike Keenan’s crew had rallied to get points in 12 games this season (11 wins and one OTL). That’s 23 of the teams 50 points — almost half.

   That’s the biggest difference between this year’s Flames and last, their ability to not get rattled or complacent.  As one Flame said after Saturday’s game, “If this had been last year getting behind 1-0 and then 2-1 we’d have ended up losing 5-2 or something.”

   Opinions varied on the club’s resilience. Noted Saturday’s late game hero, Todd Bertuzzi, who scored the winner with 23.4 second left after setting up the tying tally, “Coming back is nice, but we can’t keep falling behind like that.”

   When relayed to Coach Keenan, “it doesn’t matter how we win…as long as we win.”

   …And the Flames have now won 5 in-a-row awaiting Sunday’s clash in Chicago against the upstart Blackhawks, who are one of the league’s youngest teams.  3 of the Hawks will start for the West in the Jan. 25 all-star game — 2 of them, Kane & Toews, are in just their second seasons in the league.

   By collected 50 points in 38 games, the Flames have reached the half-century point mark the third fastest in team history.  In ’88-89 the eventually Stanley Cup winners had 50 points in 33 games on their way to a league leading 117 points.  The ’92-93 Flames netted 50 points in 37 games before finishing with 97 points.

   On the last night of the year, the Flames accomplished a couple of firsts and maybe a “hat trick” worth of initial experiences.

   The 6-4 victory over Edmonton saw the Flames go through the entire Yuletide Season for the first time in their history getting points in all games — 6 wins and one OTL. Not an easy accomplishment considering 5 of the games were at home at a time when their are plenty of holiday distractions with family and friends. Another sign of the improved focus by this season squad.

   It was also the 4th straight time the Flames won in New Year’s Eve Classic, another first. It was also the club’s 10th win in 17 games on Dec.31.

   Jarome Iginla and Mike Cammalleri both had 5-point games (2 goals and 3 assists each), a first for both scorers. We’re checking to determine if the Flames have ever had two players get 5 points in the same game.  The Flame record for points in one game is 7 set back Seregei Makarov against the Oilers on Feb 25, 1990.

   The club heads into the New Year with a 5-point lead at the top of the NW Division. It was 7 years ago the last time a team had has that great an edge in the division at essentrially the midway point of the season. Then it was Colorado, who would got on to finish on top.