'FOUNDATIONAL' APPROACH

The playoffs are different animal. A beast, unto itself.
Those feisty few months are unlike anything the regular season has to offer.
The truth is, you never really know what you have - or how many games you'll win - until you get to that point and try to prove your salt in the moments that matter.
And for those without that coveted, postseason know-how, it's about setting a 'foundation,' instilling the right habits, and building to that point so when the heat of the national spotlight cranks up a notch, you're as ready (and willing) as you possibly can be.

"You have to have a mindset," Head Coach Darryl Sutter explained following Friday's practice. "The reference here is always to a year that they did well, or didn't do well or whatever, right? The mantra of building a foundation is what gives you a chance. That's the only thing that gives you a chance.
"If it's just about playing a stretch game and a line-rush game, during the playoffs, it's traffic. If you haven't practiced that, you might win one game. You might win one. Right? So, you made it. You won one. So, that's the experience you got. You won a game.
"There's history to that."
The Flames, who currently have a five-point lead on first place in the Pacific, will at some point be tested that way. It's a hurdle that Sutter refers to when the 2018-19 season is brought up, because that high-scoring, division-winning version of these Flames fizzled early in Round 1.
But with 25 games left on the schedule, they aren't looking past the day in front of them.
There's too much to learn - and consistency to gain - between now and when the spring storm rolls into Calgary.

Take Thursday's win over the back-to-back Stanley Cup champions, for example. Sure, the Tampa Bay Lightning - like the fiery locals - have the ability to blow the doors off teams.
But it can come at a cost.
Stray from too far from the game plan and even clubs of that calibre can fall victim.
"Hey, look at Jon Cooper," Sutter said of the Bolts' bench boss. "Won the Stanley Cup, back-to-back, and you should listen to him. What did he say last night after the game?
"And he's dead on.
"He said if you put yourself in a position where you have to out-score yourself back into a game, you've got the wrong attitude. If you try and out-score the other team, that's your mindset, you're going to lose in the long run. That's not what the way you win.
"He called it 'defending' last night. You "defend" yourself into winning games. We call it 'checking.' That's what you do.
"If you don't have everybody that's committed to that, and you don't have the goaltending, you might make it (to the playoffs) - but you only get to do it for eight days and you're going to shake hands."
For a team that's been through and seen it all over the past two-and-a-half seasons, Cooper said they should be happy going into the third period tied, 1-1.
Instead, they managed the puck poorly - "didn't execute," according to captain Steven Stamkos - and the Flames potted a couple of quick ones to take control late in the middle stanza.
From there, the champs were on tilt. They had to open their game up, abandon that "winning recipe" and press, purely, for offence. It's a lesson the Flames take seriously, as they look to become the next version of what the Lightning have been over the past few years.
And games like Thursday's are an excellent stepping-stone.
"Honestly, the way we're playing right now, we're playing well and beating the best teams in the league," said Rasmus Andersson. "Everyone knows their role and we trust our systems. We're playing (well), night in and night out, and that's a key.
"Now, we've got to keep pushing."