October–December The Flames endured a disastrous start to the season, suffering two
shutout losses in their first three games. The second, a 3–0 loss to the
Florida Panthers, ended with Flames fans loudly booing the team as it left the ice. Three more players were lost to injury,
Raitis Ivanans and
Rene Bourque (head injuries) and
Adam Pardy (shoulder), while the team's top scoring line of
Jarome Iginla,
Olli Jokinen and
Alex Tanguay was held pointless. The team responded to the meeting with a stronger effort in a 5–3 victory over the Oilers in which Iginla and Tanguay scored their first goals of the season alongside
Matt Stajan, who took Jokinen's spot on the top line. The win over Edmonton began a streak where Calgary won five of six games, ending with another victory over the Oilers, 5–4 in a
shootout, on October 26. The Flames ended October with consecutive home losses, to the
Colorado Avalanche and
Washington Capitals, in which they surrendered two-goal leads in both. The team entered November in the midst of a streak where they lost six of seven games. During the slump, rookie forward
Brett Sutter was arrested in
Scottsdale, Arizona, on charges that he assaulted a cab driver. Sutter apologized for the incident and his teammates issued a release expressing support, but he was demoted to Abbotsford a few days later. He was subsequently traded to the
Carolina Hurricanes along with
Ian White in exchange for defenceman
Anton Babchuk and forward
Tom Kostopoulos in a deal that was being discussed by the two teams prior to Sutter's legal troubles. Calgary struggled to a 4–7–2 record in November, losing six of their last seven road games during the month. However, the team ended the month with its star players playing their best games of the season. Kiprusoff recorded his third shutout of the season in a 3–0 win against the
Minnesota Wild while Iginla scored eight goals and 12 points in the final nine games of the month. Though they sat in 14th place in the 15-team Western Conference, the Flames ended November only five points out of a playoff spot. The organization reached a milestone during the month, as
Curtis Glencross scored the 10,000th goal in the history of the Flames franchise during a 3–2 victory over the
Philadelphia Flyers on November 26. The team's struggles continued into December, where the Flames lost four of six games to begin the month. Back-to-back victories over the
Columbus Blue Jackets and
Toronto Maple Leafs on December 13 and 16, respectively, marked the first time the team won consecutive games since late October. The latter victory also spoiled
Dion Phaneuf's first return to Calgary following his trade to Toronto the previous season. The Flames followed the victories with three consecutive losses, but entered the Christmas break on a positive note with a 3–2 shootout victory over the
Dallas Stars. Despite a victory over the
Buffalo Sabres after Christmas, and with the team still mired in 14th place in the Western Conference, general manager and Executive Vice President
Darryl Sutter announced his resignation from both positions on December 28, exactly eight years after he was hired by the team to become its coach in 2002. The move was not entirely Sutter's decision, as he was asked by the organization to step aside. The decision came as a shock to many fans, even as it was believed to be inevitable following the team's decline in recent seasons. Jay Feaster assumed control of the team, serving as acting general manager.
January–April Calgary ended 2010 with three consecutive wins and won their first game in 2011 for a season-high four-game winning streak. The streak came to an end at the hands of the
New York Islanders on January 3, a contest that marked the Flames franchise's 3,000th game in its history. Losses to Vancouver, Detroit and Carolina followed, the latter two in overtime, but the Flames' four-game eastern road trip that began in Carolina ended with the team registering two wins and six points. The last game of the trip, against the
Montreal Canadiens, saw the team come back from a 4–0 deficit to force the contest into overtime before Montreal prevailed. Kiprusoff struggled throughout the road trip, and was jeered by the fans on the team's first game home, a 6–0 loss to Minnesota. The team rebounded from the loss, as backup goaltender
Henrik Karlsson led the Flames to a 7–4 victory over the
Dallas Stars on January 21. Kiprusoff then showed a return to form by making 41 saves to lead the Flames to a 4–3 shootout win over Vancouver the following night. Victories over the
Nashville Predators and
St. Louis Blues allowed the Flames to enter the All-Star break on a four-game winning streak. On February 3, The Flames rolled into Atlanta on a five-game win streak and beat the Atlanta Thrashers 4-2 extending their streak to six for their first win in the city since Atlanta was awarded a replacement franchise for the Flames in 1999. The win ended the 'Atlanta Jinx' that began on April 1, 1980, with a 5–2 home loss to the Buffalo Sabres and was the first win for the franchise since March 28, 1980 when the Flames beat the Rangers at the
Omni Coliseum in their third last home game. This would also be their last franchise win and game played in Atlanta as the Thrashers moved to Winnipeg the next season. During the jinx the Flames had gone 0-7-1 in the city dating back to 1980. On February 7, 2011, Exactly 100 days after the Flames last held a playoff position, they climbed back into the top eight with a 7–0–1 run that culminated in a 3–1 victory over the defending Stanley Cup champion
Chicago Blackhawks. Jokinen tied a franchise record for points in a period during a February 14 game against the
Colorado Avalanche when he scored four points in the first period of a 9–1 win. The last Flame to accomplish the feat was
Al MacInnis in 1991. The victory also marked Kiprusoff's 250th win as a member of the Flames. The Flames hosted the
Montreal Canadiens at
McMahon Stadium in February for the
2011 Heritage Classic. The game was played before 41,022 fans who braved a windchill as cold as . Calgary won the game, 4–0, on the strength of Bourque's two goals, including the 100th of his career. Kiprusoff became the first goaltender in NHL history to record a shutout at an outdoor game, and his play remained strong following the Heritage Classic, as he shut the Blues out in back-to-back games on February 27 (a 1–0 shutout) and March 1 (a 6–0 shutout). After losing 6–4 to the Blackhawks that resulted in the Flames dropping from fifth to sixth and a 3–0 win by the Nashville Predators against the Vancouver Canucks followed by a 1–0 victory by the Los Angeles Kings over the Phoenix Coyotes on March 3, resulting in the Flames dropping from sixth down to eighth, Kiprusoff then became the first goaltender in 25 years to stop two penalty shots in one game to lead the Flames to a 4–3 win over the Blue Jackets on March 4 as the Flames moved from eighth back up to fifth place in the West. Two nights later, in a 3–2 win over the Nashville Predators, Iginla scored his 30th goal of the season on a penalty shot against
Pekka Rinne. In doing so, he became the 10th player in NHL history to score at least 30 goals in ten consecutive seasons.
Jay Bouwmeester, the NHL's active "ironman" leader, broke
Karlis Skrastins' league record for consecutive games played by a defenceman when he appeared in his 496th consecutive game on March 15 against the
Phoenix Coyotes, where the Flames lost 4–3. Bouwmeester last missed a game in the
2003–04 season when he suffered a broken foot. He remained 400 games behind
Garry Unger's overall record of 914 consecutive games played. A period of struggle through the middle part of March saw the Flames drop back out of a playoff spot. A 5–4 shootout victory over the Oilers on March 26 represented only their second win in eight games. While they ended that night at ninth in the west, just one point behind the defending Stanley Cup champion and eighth place Blackhawks, Chicago had played three fewer games at that point. A controversial loss to the Ducks on March 30 left Calgary three points behind Chicago with four games to play. The Flames had an apparent tying goal disallowed after Anaheim's
Ryan Getzlaf appeared to pull the puck out of the net in a game the Ducks went on to win 4–2. The Flames gained a boost when it was announced that injured forward
Daymond Langkow had been cleared to return to action on April 1 against the Blues. It was Langkow's first game in over a year after suffering cracked vertebrae in his neck late in the
2009–10 season. Langkow recorded an assist in that game, a 3–2 victory. Iginla was involved in all three goals for Calgary; his second goal of the night, and game winner, was the
1,000th point of his NHL career. The Flames were eliminated from contention on April 6, finishing tenth in the West after the Blackhawks defeated the Blues 4–3 and the Anaheim Ducks defeated the Sharks 6–2 the same day. ==Playoffs==