The Colorado Avalanche, Vegas Golden Knights and Minnesota Wild host the Flames before a return home to meet the Tampa Bay Lightning
Four games in six days await the Calgary Flames starting with Monday’s clash against the Colorado Avalanche to kick off a three-game road trip.
The Flames (11-13-3) also have stops in Las Vegas on Tuesday and Minnesota on Thursday and return home to face the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday in the next portion of their pre-Christmas gauntlet of games.
The Flames currently are only a few points out of a wild-card spot in a Western Conference that has already seen distance between the top three clubs in both divisions and the rest of the middling pack.
Here is a look at the oncoming clashes as Calgary attempts to stay relevant and rebound after finishing its six-game homestand by losing three of four outings.
Monday: At Colorado Avalanche (16-9-2)
The Avalanche are in a three-way dogfight atop the Central Division, but have lost their edge. A 5-2 home loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday has them on a two-game losing skid and with only one win in six outings (1-3-2).
Nathan MacKinnon has scored goals in three consecutive games and amassed 17 points (5-12-17) in an 11-game streak.
Defence has been an issue. The Avalanche have surrendered 23 goals in those six outings.
The Flames have one win in the past six meetings, and Colorado claimed a 3-1 win in the last Calgary visit to Denver on Nov. 25.
Tuesday: At Vegas Golden Knights (19-5-5)
The Golden Knights are riding a three-game winning streak and 6-1-3 run that has them atop the league standings.
The Flames handed Vegas a 2-1 overtime loss at the Saddledome a couple of weeks ago, but the Golden Knights have surrendered two or fewer goals in seven of nine games.
The Vegas depth has been on full display during this run, but notably Jack Eichel is riding a seven-game run in which he collected four goals and 12 points.
The Flames have an all-time record of 1-7-1 in Vegas, with the lone victory coming last March.
Thursday: At Minnesota Wild (10-12-4)
After winning their first four games when John Hynes took the coaching reins, including a 5-2 win in Calgary last Tuesday, the Wild lost a pair of games at the hands of the Vancouver Canucks ( 2-0) and Edmonton Oilers (4-3).
Minnesota snapped that skid with a 3-0 victory over the Seattle Kraken Sunday night.
The Wild boast one of the league’s worst penalty kills, but the Flames were blanked on three opportunities in their last meeting.
Defenceman Jonas Brodin, who leads the Wild with an average of nearly 24 minutes per game, is out of action on a week-to-week basis due to an injury in Edmonton.
This will be Minnesota's first game at home following a four-game road trip.
Saturday: Versus Tampa Bay Lightning (13-11-5)
Since a stretch in which they won four of 12 games, the Lightning have won three of four affairs, the latest a 4-3 overtime victory over the Seattle Kraken on Saturday.
The rounding into form of number-one goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy since returning just over two weeks ago has righted things for Tampa Bay. He has allowed four goals in his last three games after surrendering 14 in his first four outings following back surgery on the eve of the season.
Of course, it helps that Nikita Kucherov has been on an absolute offensive tear. Kucherov, who leads the league’s scoring race and netted two goals and an assist in the Kraken game, has collected 13 goals and 36 points in the past 18 games.