The Calgary Flames reached the 90-point mark on Friday night with a 4-2 win over the Minnesota Wild; one of the two teams they’re in bitter pursuit of.
Calgary holds a game in hand, but trails by three points. To make things a little easier, here are the standings as of Saturday morning courtesy of nhl.com.
Calgary has San Jose (Sunday), Vegas (Tuesday), and LA (Thursday) left on their schedule.
St. Louis plays the Kraken in Seattle tonight and then hosts Utah on Tuesday.
Minnesota is in Vancouver tonight to take on the Canucks at Rogers Arena and then plays the Ducks at home on Tuesday.
In other words, we’re in for a wild four days. With any luck, Calgary’s playoff situation will still be unclear by Thursday when St. Louis and Minnesota have already played game 82.
Today may be a good day to invest in a second television. The Blues and Wild games both start at 7:00 p.m. MST.
Enough being a human
TV Guide. Let’s get to some story lines surrounding the Calgary Flames.
Already?
Joining the team on Wednesday in Anaheim, Zayne Parekh is yet to skate his rookie lap with the Calgary Flames. The 9th overall selection at the 2024 NHL Entry Draft has now watched two Flames games in person this week, an overtime loss and a statement win.
The presence of the immensely talented Markham, Ontario product has served as an interesting litmus test for fans and media alike.
Some are getting to the point of throwing insults, cheering against the team so that Parekh can get in the lineup, or even demanding Head Coach Ryan Huska’s job.
Perhaps the most perplexing is that Huska’s approach isn’t any different from most other NHL clubs. Standard procedure is to not disrupt the lineup during a late-season playoff push.
This is a group that has bought-in and played through injury over 79 games. Giving one of their spots away in the last minute to someone, anyone, who
hasn’t been doing the same? Who
hasn’t been there for the highs and the lows?
Simply tone-deaf.
It’s a bad look to make a circus out of getting a teenager into NHL games. He’ll get in if the Flames drop out of contention and no earlier; just like most players.
If Parekh dresses for a game, he will be the fourth (or fifth depending on if and when Minnesota’s Zeev Buium plays) 2024 draft pick to dress for a game this season. Second overall pick, Artyom Levshunov is the only defenceman to dress this season.
Speaking of rookie defencemen.
Getting Serious
The Wild didn’t like how they played in Calgary. Per Mike Russo.
Not sure if it translates through generations, but we millennials have the term,
Doubt Monkey and we love it. Minnesota has the Doubt Monkey planted firmly on their shoulder after failing to put the Flames playoff aspirations to bed.
Western Michigan beat Denver on Thursday night in 2OT, so Buium is off to join the Minnesota Wild. It will be interesting to see if the 12th overall pick in 2024 gets into a game either in the season or playoffs.
For what it’s worth (absolutely nothing,) Zeev is who I would have taken at #9. Parekh looks to have a higher ceiling, but Buium looks like a young Duncan Kieth in how he manages the game.
Who?
Perhaps the biggest surprise while looking up last draft is Nikita Prishchepov, who was selected at #216 in round seven. The six-foot-one Orenburg, Russia product got into ten games with the Colorado Avalanche this season due to a hectic injury pile-up.
The game prior to the 21-year-old making his debut, former Flames defenceman Oliver Kylington was deployed as a winger, so that paints the picture a bit in terms of their injury situation. In late October/early November.
Prishchepov didn’t register a point in his ten games, but maintained an even +/- during his stint, but he does have nine goals and 13 assists for 22 points in his first 47 AHL games. Not bad for a seventh rounder.
Odd Man Out
One more thought on the Parekh situation.
Who would you take out of the lineup to get the high-flying offensive defenceman his first game?
Ryan Huska may have been using the Junior graduate as the latter of a Carrot & Stick motivational approach. Just Zayne’s presence at practice implies that someone will sit a game if they don’t play well.
Jake Bean and Brayden Pachal played like their hair was on fire on Friday night.
Jake Bean vs. Wild – 5v5
CF%: 75
Chances For-Against: 15-5
Expected Goals Percentage: 80%
Shots For-Against: 8-2
Brayden Pachal vs. Wild – 5v5
CF%: 78.98
Chances For-Against: 15-4
Expected Goals Percentage: 88.38%
Shots For-Against: 8-1
The pairing of MacKenzie Weegar and Joel Hanley quietly ate up around twenty minutes. Weegar was a +2 and Hanley a +1.
That leaves the first pairing. Kevin Bahl looked excellent for most of the game, but the two did happen to be on the ice for Minnesota’s late two-goal rally.
Andersson may have been Calgary’s weak link on Friday night. His even strength goal differentials have been bleeding out for almost the entire season. His hot start is the only thing keeping him away from a Green Jacket.
Since Oct. 28, Andersson is tied with Bruins defenceman Mason Lorhei for lowest plus-minus at -42 over 71 games. Woof.
To be fair, it took Lorhei only 68 games to post to -42. The Baton Rouge, Louisiana native is -43 over 75 total games.
The simplest answer is that Andersson has played through a few injuries this season. Saddle on that the 28-year-old is adjusting to taking on Chris Tanev’s defensive assignments and you start to get the picture.
Despite his struggles this season, there is
no way that Andersson misses a game to get Parekh into the lineup.
Is there?
Given that Andersson is playing through something and that it’s been a long season, maybe it would make sense that he gets the game off if the Flames are mathematically eliminated from the playoffs.
He doesn’t have to worry about losing his job to a try-out like Brayden Pachal, Jake Bean, and Joel Hanley might.
Stepping out of fantasy land for a moment, Joel Hanley is probably the guy. He’s spent far more of his career being available as a seventh defenceman and handles it more gracefully than the rest of the gang.
Getting Ready
You have to wonder what kind of lineup LA and Vegas dress against Calgary over the final five days of hockey.
Adin Hill is getting his 50th start of the season tonight against the Predators. Do we see Akira Schmid again? Their regular backup, Ilya Samsonov, hasn't played since March 23.
In any case, the Western Conference Wildcard race is still wildly volatile and Vegas may prefer to face Calgary or Minnesota over St. Louis.
The Golden Knights organization likely isn’t too worried about it. The team went 8-0-1 against the three teams. St. Louis is the only team to put up any sort of fight. Scoring was 12-8 and the Blues stole one win in OT.
Compare that to Calgary getting outscored 11-2 and Minnesota 12-4 and it’s safe to say that Vegas would prefer one of those two.
Stats courtesy of naturalstattrick.com and nhl.com.
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