Giordano: Flames 'feel like we're sliding' after another loss

Mark Giordano knows his team has struggled lately, and he feels a sense of urgency to turn things around.

The Calgary Flames captain expressed as much and looked ahead to the team's next game against the Florida Panthers after a 6-3 defeat to the league-leading Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday night.

"We'll be ready Thursday. We'll be a way more focused group, and we have to really, really pull out of this. We feel like we're sliding," he told reporters. "We haven't been getting the points we were usually getting at the start of the (season), and we've got to stop (that) right now."

Calgary has lost four of five games since the break. The Flames once had the best record in the Western Conference but have since been surpassed by the Winnipeg Jets and San Jose Sharks, the latter of which is riding a six-game win streak.

Giordano scored Calgary's first goal of Tuesday's contest, but Tampa Bay had already buried three of its own beforehand. Sean Monahan's second-period marker cut the lead to 3-2, but the Lightning tallied the next three en route to the win.