And in the NHL, that's an extremely tall order.
But they never gave up.
Never stopped pushing.
And created plenty of chances along the way.
However, they just couldn't get the goals they needed - couldn't convert on the opportunities they created.
Rasmus Andersson and Noah Hanifin would score for the Flames as they fell 5-2 to their Pacific Divisional rivals.
Michael Frolik was sent off for tripping early in the first period and 1:35 into that man-advantage, Tyler Myers - who was born in Texas but spent many years playing minor hockey in Calgary - scored on a long-distance wrister from the left boards up near the blueline that found a hole far-side past David Rittich through a partial screen.
It was his second goal of the season, coming at 3:29.
Mark Giordano snuck in from the point and stepped into a slapshot from the right faceoff dot minutes later, Thatcher Demko getting a piece of it but the puck trickling out put behind him and past the far post.
Demko got the start Sunday in place of Jacob Markstrom, who made a career-high 49 saves Saturday night in a 3-2 home win over the LA Kings.
Myers scored his second of the game at 6:40 with another shot from the point, this one from the right boards, that took a weird deflection off Rittich and went through his five-hole.
The Canucks then made it 3-0 with Matthew Tkachuk in the box for interference.
Myers passed the puck to former Hitmen star Jake Virtanen, who wired a slapshot off the post.
A few moments later, though, he scored.
That spelt the end of Rittich's night, as he left the game after allowing those three goals on seven shots.
Rittich had stopped all 34 Vancouver shots he faced back on Oct. 5 in the Flames home-opener, picking up his second career shutout in a 3-0 win.
Cam Talbot stepped between the pipes in his 300th career game.
The homeside came out in the second period like gangbusters, creating two great chances in the first minute of play.
Just 15 seconds in, Mikael Backlund slung a puck at the net from the low boards that Sean Monahan got a stick on to tip, but Demko was in position to catch it with his glove.
Thirty seconds after that, Monahan fed a pass cross-ice on a rush to Johnny Gaudreau, whose shot on the fly missed the net.
The ongoing pressure led to Alexander Edler being whistled for hooking on Andrew Mangiapane beside the Vancouver cage during a battle for a loose puck at 1:18.
Calgary kept it up on the PP, with a quick three-way passing play from Gaudreau to Elias Lindholm to Monahan, the latter looking like he got a piece of the post on his shot.
Back at even strength, J.T. Miller got around TJ Brodie with a great one-on-one move but then shovelled the puck wide as he tried to push it back to the open short-side as he skated across the crease.
The Flames created another chance on a 3-on-1 rush, Tkachuk just missing the net with his attempt from the wing after a quick pass-back from Giordano.
The Flames came into the night with the league's second best penalty-kill, clicking along at an 85% efficiency.
It was put to the test.
And it came through with an A+.
First they had to kill off a Tkachuk tripping call on Elias Pettersson, and then just 10 seconds after that minor ended, Andersson was sent to the box for a trip on Tim Schaller.
During that penalty, Travis Hamonic's rink-long clearing attempt went over the glass at the other end 59 seconds in, giving the Canucks a two-man advantage for 1:01.
While still on the kill, Andersson and Backlund ended up on a 2-on-1, Andersson feathering a deft pass to Backlund who ran out of room to shoot at the side of the net and tried to pass it back into the slot but no one was there to receive it.
Andersson finally solved Demko with 1:24 left in the second period, picking up the rebound of a Monahan shot at full stride and then going forehand, backhand for paydirt.
It was his third of the season, Tkachuk getting the other helper.
