Flames keep staying in the playoff mix and facing two clubs also on the outside the post-season pace with a league power in between
Flames keep staying in the playoff mix and facing two clubs also on the outside the post-season pace with a league power in between
Tough times for members of Team Tank. One thing we have learned about this edition of the Calgary Flames is they do not intend to go down without a fight.
After losing three straight games to the Florida Panthers, Carolina Hurricanes and Colorado Avalanche, the Flames were down 1-0 going into the third period of Thursday’s clash with the Vegas Golden Knights. A regulation time loss would have put the Flames (33-29-5, 71 points) down to 25th overall in the league standings. Instead, they rallied with a four-goal third period in a 4-1 win over the defending Stanley Cup champions and followed it up with a solid 5-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens Saturday night.
Instead of plummeting, the Flames awoke Monday eight points back of Vegas and the Pacific Division's third-place Los Angeles Kings with 15 games remaining.
Do the Flame have a chance of making the Stanley Cup playoffs? Well, it’s small — 6.8% according to moneypuck.com — before Monday’s action. Vegas, starting with Sunday's 3-1 win over the New Jersey Devils, plays eight games in 14 days, which is not an easy schedule.
The Flames truly are in can’t-lose territory and need plenty of help, but this team keeps plugging away. While the Knights have a busy schedule and the Kings hit the road, here is a look at Calgary’s opposition.
Monday: versus Washington Capitals (32-25-9, 73 points)
The Capitals were trade deadline sellers, but pulled within one point of the Detroit Red Wings for the Eastern Conference’s second wild-card spot with a surprising 2-1 victory over the Vancouver Canucks. That win followed a 2-1 victory over the Seattle Kraken for a Washington team that opened its current road trip with losses to the Winnipeg Jets and Edmonton Oilers by a combined 10-2 count.
The Capitals are 29th in offence, but it’s worth noting they have scored 15 power-play goals (15-for-47) in their past 15 games. Thanks to having scored 11 goals in the past 20 games, Alex Ovechkin is up to 19 goals on the season, which has him looking to become the fifth player in league history to reach the 20-goal mark for 19 times and third to hit it in 19 consecutive seasons. He is now 54 goals back of Wayne Gretzky’s record mark of 894.
Washington won the first meeting of the season, a 3-2 shootout game back on Oct. 16, in which Calgary blew a 2-0 lead.
Saturday: at Vancouver Canucks (42-18-8, 92 points)
After opening a nine-game homestand with a 5-0 win over the Jets, the Canucks have fallen 4-3 in overtime to the Avalanche and then dropped a game against the Capitals. The Canucks are one point up on Colorado and the Dallas Stars for top spot in the Western Conference — and eight ahead of Edmonton for the Pacific Division title — but have tripped up over the past month with a 5-6-2 run.
The Canucks are dealing with the absence of number-one goaltender Thatcher Demko, who was injured in their March 9 game and is listed as week-to-week. That has Casey DeSmith and Arturs Silovs in the breach. Former Flame Elias Lindholm has struggled offensively even worse than he was in Calgary since being traded to the Canucks, with four goals (two in his Vancouver debut) and seven points in 19 games since the swap.
The division rivals meet again April 16 in Vancouver. They split the first two clashes of the season, both in Calgary.
Sunday: versus Buffalo Sabres (32-31-5, 69 points)
Buffalo is like the Flames with every game a must-win, sitting five points back of Detroit. The Sabres wasted a golden opportunity to draw closer by losing 4-1 to the Red Wings on Saturday to kick off a five-game road trip that continues Monday in Seattle and ends in Calgary, with stops in Vancouver and Edmonton between.
The Sabres, who could be seen a cautionary tale for fans who want the Flames to do a complete rebuild, had high hopes of making the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time since 2011, but a dreadful stretch from mid-November into December put them way back of the pace.
It will be interesting to see whether either Calgary or Buffalo are still in the mix by the time they meet for the second time this season. The Flames won the first clash between them this season, a 4-3 game back in October — after which the Flames went on a six-game losing skid that they’ve been trying to recover from since.
