The Flames just won’t go away
The Calgary Flames were in the Western Conference Wild Card hunt for most of the season, but since the NHL Trade Deadline, it felt like teams like the St. Louis Blues and Minnesota Wild pulled away with the two playoff spots.
But with two games remaining in the Flames regular season, they are just two points back of the Blues and two points back of the Wild, with both teams only having one game left on their respective schedules. If one of St. Louis and Minnesota lose their final games of the season, Calgary could potentially jump one or both of the teams and clinch their first playoff spot since 2021-22.
On Monday’s episode of Daily Faceoff Live, Frank Seravalli and Tyler Yaremchuk discuss the Flames’ playoff chances and how competitive the Western Conference has been down the stretch.
Tyler Yaremchuk: Let’s talk about the playoff race in the Western Conference, and yes – we’re still talking about the playoff race in the Western Conference. Four or five days ago, it felt like this thing was over, but the Calgary Flames win back-to-back games, and with that, the Minnesota Wild have plateaued off and the St. Louis Blues have come down from their high of a 12-game winning streak.
All of a sudden, with just a few games remaining on the schedule, the Flames have a shot. Frank, are you a believer that they can get this done? They need to win out, and one of Minnesota or St. Louis have to lose their final game.
Frank Seravalli: I am a believer. If one of Minnesota or St. Louis opens the door, the Flames will burst through. If you look at the games remaining, Calgary has their work cut out for them. They’ve got the Vegas Golden Knights and they’ve got the L.A. Kings, but for both those games, depending on how the next day or so goes, those games might not mean much.
It doesn’t mean anything for the Golden Knights, might not mean anything for the Kings. I don’t know, this Flames team could potentially get to 95 or 96 points and not making the playoffs. That would be relatively historic for the way the points system has gone in the salary cap era.