Flames' Ward: 'Time for us to start giving a shit'

Geoff Ward has seen enough.

The Calgary Flames head coach lamented his team's inability to build momentum this season following its lopsided 5-1 loss against the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday.

"Inconsistent I think is probably the best way (to describe the four-game set against the Canucks), but we've been talking about it for a while now," Ward told reporters after the loss.

"It's time to put this thing to bed and take charge and take control of what we can," he continued. "We certainly can control the way start, we certainly can control how we pay attention to details, how hard we compete, how much we care. All those things are certainly within our control. It's time for us to start giving a shit about it."

The Flames split the four-game series with the Canucks, but they were outscored 12-9 over those contests. It's been a roller-coaster season for the club, with Calgary often following consecutive wins with a string of losses.

The Flames' habits came back to bite them on Wednesday. After Calgary made the score 2-1 late in the second period, the Canucks responded with a pair of goals 37 seconds apart to put the Flames down 4-1 entering the final frame.

"... I thought we had a good push at the start of the second period, but the two late goals I mean, they're killers, obviously," Ward said. "After we got the game to 2-1 it's the same thing again. It's not what you make all the time it's what you leave, and to leave those opportunities that we gave them after making the hockey game 2-1, it's inexcusable."

The Flames own a 8-7-1 record and sit fifth in the North Division entering Thursday's action.