Tonight is it.
For much of the NHL, Tuesday, April 15, will be the last day of the regular season.
Two teams within reach for the Calgary Flames, the St. Louis Blues and Minnesota Wild, will play their 82nd game of the 2024-25 regular season and will secure a playoff spot if they win.
For Calgary, it’s game 81. They play the Las Vegas Golden Knights, who are yet to lose to the Flames in three matchups this season.
By midnight tonight, we’ll have a better idea of how this underdog season ends.
For today, we’ll do a three-game flight of game previews that carry playoff implications for the Calgary Flames.
Promise Land
It’s fair to expect the upstart St. Louis Blues to easily run over the 38-30-13 Utah Hockey Club. After all, they may have painted the fence, but Utah is just that same Arizona Coyotes roster with a fresh coat.
There may be some hope there.
Utah is red hot down the stretch with a 6-1-2 record. Those six wins include beating the first-place Winnipeg Jets and fourth-place Dallas Stars. Clayton Keller (11), Logan Cooley (11), and Dylan Guenther all have more points than games played over that stretch.
The Blues, meanwhile, are cooling down. 0-2-1 in their last three and a 0% power play in those games.
Naturally, that means the Blues will roll over Utah, but it’s nice to get hopes high while there is still time.
Looking Forward to a Surprise
Things don’t look as bright and sunny for the Minnesota-Anaheim showdown.
The Ducks, have lost two in a row and four of their last six. They’ve won two games against playoff teams in their last 26 and both times it was Edmonton.
Minnesota is doing just alright heading into tonight. A 4-2 loss to Calgary seemed to rattle the group, but they pulled off a 3-2 overtime win over the Canucks on Saturday.
Which would look a lot more impressive if the Sharks didn’t show how easy it is to get to overtime against the Canucks two days later.
So we have an interesting one in St. Louis vs. Utah, and an expected poor result for Flames fans in Anaheim tonight. One thing to watch in the Ducks-Wild game is whether 2024 12th overall pick Zeev Buium makes his debut.
Update:
If you thought the Ducks were in tough, wait until we go to the Calgary/Vegas game.
At a Glance
Calgary Flames (39-27-14, 92 pts) vs. Las Vegas Golden Knights (49-22-9, 107 pts)
Last Ten: Calgary (5-2-3) Vegas (7-2-1)
Time: 7:00 p.m. Mountain Standard Time.
TV: TVA, SNW
Goliath
To be frank, the Las Vegas Golden Knights have fed the Calgary Flames their lunch the season.
Yes, a 0-2-1 record against Vegas is bad, but the process may top the results.
Two goals for, eleven against. Two shutouts.
A remarkable ten teams have swept the season series against Calgary but Vegas surely did it in the most humiliating fashion. Joel Hanley and Matthew Coronato are the only two Flames players with goals against the Golden Knights in 2024-25.
Rasmus Andersson is a -6 in three games. That translates to a -164 pace over 82 games, so it’s fair to say that Vegas feasts on his style of defending, particularly in front of the net.
But what is an underdog story without a bit of villainous context?
The Flames, to their small credit, played better in their most recent game against the Golden Knights on April 5. A 3-2 loss that saw Calgary rally from a 2-0 deficit all to drop the extra point due to a Reilly Smith backhand goal 4:31 into the extra period.
Do the Flames have a chance? Oddsmakers have been leaning progressively more towards Vegas as the morning has carried on, but of course they do. Calgary has a .750 points percentage in their last 14 games.
To be fair, Vegas has a .808 points percentage over the same amount of time, but this is a David vs. Goliath thing, so it kind of has to be that way.
Update: Per Pat Steinberg, several Golden Knights stars are sitting this one out.
Calgary Flames Projected Lineup
Courtesy of Pat Steinberg.
@Fan960Steinberg
Huberdeau-Kadri-Klapka
Coleman-Backlund-Coronato
Sharangovich-Frost-Pospisil
Lomberg-Rooney-Farabee
Hanley-Weegar
Bahl-Andersson
Bean-Pachal
Wolf
Vladar
What a ride it's been. Puck drop is at 7:10 p.m. MST.
Stats courtesy of nhl.com.
Calgary Flames Blogger • 
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