Another week of Calgary Flames hockey is done and dusted, and potentially so are the playoff hopes for the team… After a killer road trip last week that saw the Flames set franchise history with a sweep of the New York teas, the Flames may have faltered at the wrong time.
But first let’s look at the good. An exciting overtime win at home to Seattle Tuesday night saw the Flames brimming with confidence. 2 goals in the third period to tie things up against the Kraken but a late goal against sent things to overtime where things got spicy. End to end the hockey was exciting and on fire, capped off by a devilish breakaway chance for Kadri set up by Coronato. Kadri used his silky hands to deke out the goalie and put it home to make it three consecutive comeback wins for this booming Flames team.
Last night saw the Flames take on the Stars in what was nearly guaranteed to be a hard fought game. Well it was hard fought by one side, the Flames, who absolutely DOMINATED play for nearly the entire game. Over 100 shot attempts, nearly 50 shots on goal, it seemed like everything was going right for the Flames. Unfortunately these positive stats did not translate to the scorecard. Two goals called off, one more questionably than the other. Lord knows how many post hits. And worst of all, Connor Zary injured his knee again. Nothing went right for the Flames last night and saw one of their best performances of the season end in a 5-2 loss at home to the Stars.
Now three games back and four points back from the St. Louis Blues in the Wild Card spot, the Flames will have to dig as deep as it gets tomorrow night in Edmonton to show they have what it takes to be a playoff team. Taking on the Oilers should be a slight bit easier at least as they are missing their crown jewels in Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. Can the Flames pull it off or is it too little too late? We’ll find out over the next couple of weeks as they round off their season April 17th vs the Los Angeles Kings.