The Calgary Flames were eliminated from the playoff race on Monday night when they suffered their sixth consecutive loss, this time at the hands of the Los Angeles Kings.

The Flames were in the thick of the wild-card race at the beginning of the month, but have posted an abysmal 3-8-1 record in March to fall out of the playoff picture.

The collapse has led some to question the character of the team, which head coach Glen Gulutzan took great offence to on Wednesday.

“For me, that comes from sources that have no idea,” Gulutzan told the Calgary Sun. “I’ve been in a lot more locker-rooms than a lot of people that are spouting off, and there’s really good character in that room.

“Nobody knows the inner-workings of our group better than us. We have guys getting handed Muhammad Ali awards, and we’re questioning character now? That’s B.S. in my mind. No one is in that room.

“Everyone wants to point blame, but the blame, at the end of the day, goes to the guys that are running it, not the players in there. That’s me. So to question their character? That’s B.S.”

The Flames have been short on answers on why the team's play has dropped off. Sean Monahan played through injuries before being shut down last weekend and forward Matthew Tkachuk is now considered unlikely to return from the upper-body injury he sustained on March 11. Goaltender Mike Smith has gone just 1-6 with a .867 save percentage since returning from the lower-body injury which sidelined him for a month.

Flames captain Mark Giordano, who as Gulutzan noted won ESPN’s Muhammad Ali Sports Humanitarian Award last year, said the team won't be playing the blame game.

“When things don’t go well, there are going to be questions,” Giordano said. “I think you’ve gotta take it, as leaders and veterans on the team, and sort of look in the mirror and see what you can correct and go from there.

“It’s tough. You don’t want to get into the ol’ pointing-the-finger act now. That’s the worst thing you can do. Right now, we just take it on the chin. There are always going to be questions when you’re not successful, so you take it.”

Giordano also agreed with his head coach that character is not an issue for the team.

“We have great character. I don’t think we question that at all in here,” Giordano said. “We didn’t get the job done, we know that. That’s what is most disappointing. It’s tough… You come in, you’re looking at your buddies in the room and it’s tough to do right now because we feel like we let each other down.

“But we know what type of people we have in here. We know what type of guys and players we have.”

The Flames begin their final five-game stretch of the season on Thursday against the Columbus Blue Jackets.