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The Clumsy Western Wildcard Race: Game Day vs. Ducks |
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The Calgary Flames will attempt to rally from a two-game losing streak tonight when they face the Anaheim Ducks at the Honda Center in yet another pivotal showdown when it comes to Calgary's playoff hopes.
For Head Coach Ryan Huska’s crew, the time is now if the team is to keep their footing in the Western Conference Wildcard race.
The team directly above them in the standings and holding the final Wildcard spot in the West, the Vancouver Canucks, are playing miserable hockey; 2-3-4 since Dec. 18 and seemingly handing out wins to every down-on-their-luck organization in the NHL.
On Monday, it was allowing the Canadiens to rally from a 3-1 deficit en route to a 5-4 overtime victory.
Three nights before that, the Canucks were smothered 3-0 by the down-and-out Nashville Predators.
Unfortunately for Flames fans, Calgary has had an even worse record since Vancouver began to slide-albeit having played two less games. 3-3-1 since Dec. 18 ranks 25th in the NHL.
Since December 18:
Vancouver: 2-3-4 – 8 points
Calgary: 3-3-1 – 7 points
St. Louis trails by just a point but has played two more games. Utah is even in games and needs only two points to catch Calgary.
There is a solid chance that those two teams pass the Flames and we see the team with a minor lead over the Seattle Kraken to finish the season–just like last year.
Or maybe the team bounces back with an extended winning streak. They’ve done so previously this season, but are yet to string more than two wins together after exactly two consecutive losses.
And then there is the Anaheim Ducks.
High Fliers
Tonight’s opposition is a group currently exposing how little it takes to contend for a Wildcard spot in the West.
The Ducks were 13-17-4 on Dec. 28 after a 3-1 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers. Starting with a 5-3 win over the Edmonton Oilers the following night, Anaheim has gone 4-1-0 and now finds themselves a mere five points behind Calgary.
Troy Terry and Ryan Strome lead the flock during this hot streak with seven points apiece. Terry also leads in goals over the stretch, scoring four in five games.
Former Flames prospects camp invitee Frank Vatrano isn’t far behind the two with two goals and four assists.
For contrast, no Calgary Flame has more than two points in the four games they’ve played since Dec. 29.
Tonight’s faceoff is a very losable game for the floundering Flames. They will then start a two-game series against a 23-10-5 LA Kings team that has won four in a row and enters Wednesday's showdown with three days off between games.
Calgary Flames (18-14-7, 43 pts) vs Anaheim Ducks (17-18-4, 38 pts)
Last Ten: Calgary (5-3-2) Anaheim (6-4-0)
Time: 8:00 p.m. Mountain Standard Time.
TV: Sportsnet West, TVA Sports, Victory+, ESPN
Calgary Flames Projected Lineup
Optional skate this morning. Duehr, Miromanov and Vladar stayed on the ice, so it looks like the same lineup as Saturday against Nashville.
Huberdeau-Kadri-Pospisil
Coleman-Backlund-Coronato
Sharangovich-Zary-Pelletier
Lomberg-Rooney-Kuzmenko
Bahl-Andersson
Hanley-Weegar
Bean-Pachal
Wolf
Vladar
Anaheim Ducks Projected Lineup
Morning skate lines courtesy of Zach Cavanaugh. @ZachCav Troy Terry didn't skate, but will likely play. Zegras is getting reps in practice but is likely not ready to return yet.
Vatrano-Strome-Leason
Gauthier-McTavish-Fabbri
Carlsson-Lundestrom-Killorn
Nesterenko-Harkins-Johnston (Zegras)
Dumoulin-Trouba
LaCombe-Gudas
Mintyukov-Zellweger/Helleson
Big Boy
If Radko Gudas wasn't enough of a terror, the Anaheim Ducks now have Jacob Trouba patrolling the ice on their first defensive pairing.
The Flames of this era have a history with Trouba. The six-foot-five blue liner re-injured Jakob
Pelletier last season and injured Nazem Kadri the year before that. He's laid a number of devastating bodychecks on the Flames.
Game time is 8:00 p.m. MST.
Calgary Flames Blogger • 
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