Amidst the trade deadline day run-up, a couple of clashes and Miikka Kiprusoff's number retirement highlight the coming week
Last week, the Flames posted a perfect record with three victories over a trio of clubs firmly holding playoff positions. In the chase for a Western Conference wild-card spot, it earned them (checks notes) a bigger hole. Heading into their clash with the Winnipeg Jets last Monday, the Flames were three points back of the final playoff position. Now, they’re five behind the Nashville Predators.
Even with 24 games remaining on the docket, and a game in hand with the Predators, it shows how difficult it will be to vault into a position. Plus, Calgary must jump over three clubs. It’s not an impossible feat, but will be extremely difficult for a club that would require a lengthy winning spree to have any hope, something that has not happened this season. The Flames (28-25-5, 61 points) have been on a whale of a roller-coaster ride starting with the game that reached the midway point of the season. Since Game 41, they have won four, lost four, won four, lost three, and now won three.
To their credit, the Flames don’t appear to be going down without a fight, even with the non-stop trade chatter surrounding the club, and notably pending unrestricted free-agent defencemen Noah Hanifin and Chris Tanev and number-one goaltender Jacob Markstrom — which will only grow louder until the March 8 deadline has past. Certainly it is worth paying attention through the pair of games upcoming, as well as the retirement of Miikka Kiprusoff’s No. 34 on a night Sidney Crosby visits the Stampede City.
For now, though, let’s look at the opposition this week.
Tuesday: versus Los Angeles Kings (29-18-10, 68 points)
The Kings headed into Monday's game in Edmonton feeling they were back on track but lost 4-2. Los Angles was in the fight for Pacific Division supremacy until late December, but a 2-8-6 swoon into late January sent them tumbling down the standings and led to a coaching change.
Since returning from the all-star break, the Kings have found most of their offensive and defensive mojo again. Their power-play has clicked for five goals in four games. Key in the turnaround has been the play of former Flames goaltender David Rittich, who has been wrestling more and more starts from another former Flames netminder, Cam Talbot.
Los Angeles, which won the first of four meetings this season with Calgary — a 5-3 affair in California just before Christmas, is built around a deep crew of forwards, led by Adrian Kempe, Kevin Fiala, Anze Kopitar and Quinton Byfield, whose 18 goals and 42 points is showing why he was chosen second overall in the 2020 draft.
Saturday: versus Pittsburgh Penguins (26-21-8, 60 points)
Crosby may be heading toward his 37th birthday, but continues to be among the league’s best players, and doing all he can to will the Penguins into a playoff spot. Pittsburgh is seven points behind the Philadelphia Flyers for third place in the Metropolitan Division, but has four games in hand. (The Penguins are nine back of Tampa Bay for the Eastern Conference’s final wild-card spot with five games in hand).
Thanks to a wild 7-6 victory over the Flyers on Sunday — a game in which Crosby score once and added three assists — the Penguins have won two straight games following a 1-4-1 stretch. They begin a four-game road trip Tuesday in Vancouver.
In one of the big surprises of the season, the Penguins have a dreadful power play, with a 28th-ranked 14.7% rate (Calgary is 30th at 14.5%), a shocking result for a team with Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang and Erik Karlsson.
As well, the game could mark the return to Calgary for Matthew Phillips, the former Flames prospect and hometown product who was an AHL star and signed as a free agent with the Washington Capitals last summer. Phillips was claimed off waivers on Feb. 16. He was a healthy scratch against the Flyers, and in three games with the Penguins has registered no points but four shots on goal.