[Dion]

Hartley and Russell say we have to be better.....

“We’ve gotta clean it up,” said Kris Russell. “This is our season. It’s desperation now. Teams we’re fighting for playoff spots with are on hot streaks and are playing their best hockey of the season. We’ve gotta do the same.”

“If this is the way we’re going to play at this time of the year, it’s just not good enough,” said the Flames defender. “We have to be better. We expect a lot of ourselves. We’ve shown character throughout the whole season and I’m sure we’ll do it.”

“We can’t keep doing that, where we get down two or three goals and expect to come back and win every game,” Russell said. “Especially at this time of the year, especially if we want to be a playoff team. The next two games are huge. They’re must-wins from now on. You’re in a situation where everyone around you is winning. We have to be better.”

“He gave us a chance,” Hartley said. “That’s what you want from a goalie. We knew the Wild are a very good hockey club and we knew they’d come at us. We knew we needed a strong performance from our goaltender and we got it . . . (The Wild) are very impressive.”

“I told them (Friday) morning, getting two points in October, November, it’s never easy,” said Hartley, whose club visits Nashville, Dallas, St. Louis, and Edmonton on this swing before returning home.

“But getting two points at this time of the year considering the races that are going on in the Western Conference, we need to find another gear.

“With seven games to go, we need to keep going and at an even bigger pace.”

http://calgaryherald.com/sports/hock...d-against-wild