Flames' playoff path to become clear, or disappear, Tuesday
Published
The Calgary Flames are clinging to postseason hope as the season winds down this week.
Whether the team will have a chance to jump into the playoff picture will become clear on Tuesday.
The Flames enter play Tuesday sitting three points back of the Minnesota Wild for the top wild-card spot and two points behind the St. Louis Blues with a game in hand on both.
Calgary needs to win both of their final two games to have a chance, but Thursday's game against the Los Angeles Kings, which was rescheduled from January, could be meaningless based on results from Tuesday.
Owning tiebreakers on the Flames, the Wild can punch their ticket to the playoffs with a single point Tuesday against the Anaheim Ducks. The Blues will lock up their spot with a regulation win against the Utah Hockey Club, but a win in overtime or a shootout, would keep the door open to Calgary, should the Flames pick up a regulation win over the Vegas Golden Knights.
The Blues currently have 31 regulation wins to Calgary's 30 and own the second tiebreaker - regulation and overtime wins - over the Flames 39 to 35. With a win beyond regulation Tuesday, the Blues would finish with 31 regulation wins, while Calgary could come in as high 32.
Both of the Golden Knights and Kings are locked into their playoff positions and could elect to rest players against the Flames.
“I don’t know the mentality that they’re going to go into it with, but our mentality is going to be that we’re fighting for our lives, so they’d better be ready to go because it’s going to be a good game,” Flames blueliner MacKenzie Weegar said ahead of Tuesday's game, per the Calgary Herald.
The Flames last reached the playoffs in 2022, falling to the Edmonton Oilers in the second round. Calgary has made the postseason five times in the past 10 years, never advancing past the second round.