Flames keep their slim playoff hopes alive

Calgary's 3-1 comeback win over the Winnipeg Jets was clutch. Now they need to win every game the rest of the way and receive help

Alive. Barely.

With Wednesday’s 3-1 win over the Winnipeg Jets, the Calgary Flames keep their playoff hopes alive, but those chances of punching ticket to the Stanley Cup tournament are slim.

Sure, the Flames officially tied the Jets with 89 points in the fight for the final Western Conference wild-card spot, but to reach the second season they need about as many miracles as the Vatican claims have been performed by the saints.

The Flames have three games remaining: Saturday’s road game against the Vancouver Canucks and then home dates with the Nashville Predators and San Jose Sharks.

Meanwhile, the Jets play host to the Predators and San Jose Sharks before ending with road games against the Minnesota Wild and Colorado Avalanche.

Not for nothing, the Predators are still alive, sitting three points behind the Flames and with five games on the docket.

Calgary’s comeback on Wednesday, thanks to goals by Andrew Mangiapane, Walker Duehr and Nikita Zadorov was well-deserved, and a good sign they have not given up hope.

Little hope is better than no hope and it won’t be long before we discover whether they have enough faith — and luck — to finish the miracle.

Here are five more thoughts after the buzzer.

EMOTIONAL BOOST: The fact Pierre-Luc Dubois was only given a minor for his cheap hit on Rasmus Andersson is wrong, but let’s move along from that debate for now. However, the Flames rallied around the incident and elevated their emotional investment in the game. True, they took too many foolish penalties while trying to exact a pound of flesh, but — and this may seem barbaric to some — a nasty game really does help galvanize a team. Maybe the Flames needed a couple of those nasty games early in the season.

BOLD BUT BRIGHT CHOICE: Coach Darryl Sutter opted to start Jacob Markstrom after a couple of sub-par performances, including Tuesday at home in the 4-3 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks. Markstrom responded with one his best games of the season. Curiously, this marked the third time this season Markstrom has played both halves a back-to-back, and in them has posted a 2-1 record and stopped 91 of 95 shots. (Hat tip to Aaron Vickers, who covers Flames games for NHL.com, for uncovering that statistic.)

BACKLUND HITS NEW HEIGHT: Good on veteran centre Mikael Backlund for his second-period assist to give him a career-best 54 points. To be honest, that looked like a poor decision to pass into a seemingly covered Andrew Mangiapane on the two-on-one rush, but he threaded the needle and watched Mangiapane bury the game-tying goal.

STECHER SHINING: Troy Stecher is likely no more than a sixth/seventh defenseman for the Flames, but re-signing him if he’s interested would be a smart move. Stecher does have some defensive lapses, but his ability to make things happen offensively and determination are worth it for a team that often fails to have a spark. His shot-block late in the game was huge.

NEED A LINDHOLM JOLT: Elias Lindholm is a coach’s dream player. He’s low maintenance, fantastic at defending, does all the little things and on and on. He deserves to lead all Calgary’s forwards in ice time. That said, the Flames dearly need some offence from him. Lindholm has been held off the scoresheet in four consecutive games and managed only two assists in the last seven outings.