"The vibe nearly defies description.

Oh, it's good, make no mistake. So good, in fact, that no one dares to dissect it.

Because when a hockey team starts going, like really cooking, the last thing players want to do is break it down, get to the bottom of it.

The goal is to ride it.

Not risk it. Not disrupt it.

"Last year when we were rolling, when you came to the rink you felt that," Matt Stajan, centre of the Calgary Flames, says of the unmistakable something that's in the air when a team is sizzling. "You don't know what causes that. You get that feeling in the dressing room. I don't think there's anything about it that you can look at.

"You don't question why it's happening."

Chris Butler compares the rush of a winning spree to a goal-scorer getting in a groove. Everything suddenly becomes so easy.

"It's no different — you're getting back-door tap-ins, you're getting empty-net looks," says the Flames defender. "Things just tend to come to you when you're on those types of stretches. I don't know if it's an exact science. It's the age-old (saying) — winning cures all.""