It’s another one of those games for the Calgary Flames as the playoff stakes keep getting higher as the end of the season draws ever closer.  The Flames cannot technically be in a playoff spot when the night is over, but they could do themselves a huge solid by winning their final meeting this season with the LA Kings (7:30 pm, Sportsnet West and Sportsnet 960).

Calgary Flames 35-27-15, 11th Western Conference

Alex Tanguay-Mike Cammalleri-Jarome Iginla
Curtis Glencross-Olli Jokinen-David Moss
Blake Comeau-Matt Stajan-Lee Stempniak
Tom Kostopoulos-Blair Jones-Tim Jackman

Jay Bouwmeester-Chris Butler
Mark Giordano-Scott Hannan
Clay Wilson-Anton Babchuk

Miikka Kiprusoff

For a second straight gameday skate, Cory Sarich participated with the team, but he will miss his fourth straight game as he continues to battle back from a concussion sustained eight days ago in Denver.  It was also interesting to note the Flames had a temporary stall up in their locker room for T.J. Brodie who has missed nine games with an upper body injury.  That suggests Brodie has resumed skating.

No lineup changes or shifts whatsoever from Monday’s 5-4 win over the Dallas Stars which is to be expected.  The Flames played a pretty decent game against the Stars and overall have done a good job in three of their last four affairs.

Los Angeles Kings 37-27-12, 9th Western Conference

Dustin Brown-Anze Kopitar-Justin Williams
Dwight King-Mike Richards-Jeff Carter
Dustin Penner-Jarret Stoll-Trevor Lewis
Kyle Clifford-Colin Fraser-Jordan Nolan

Rob Scuderi-Drew Doughty
Willie Mitchell-Slava Voynov
Alec Martinez-Matt Greene

Jonathan Quick

Quick is getting serious Vezina Trophy consideration, and for good reason.  The Kings starting netminder has given them a chance to win in virtually every single game this season, and is coming off another tough loss to swallow.  Quick gave LA a solid chance to win, allowing just one goal on Monday night in a 1-0 shutout loss to the Vancouver Canucks.  It’s been an all-too-regular occurence with the Kings this year, as they’ve been shutout ten times.  Even more amazingly, they’ve failed to give Quick regular run support; he’s allowed opponents one goal or less in 24 games this year, yet LA has gone just 15-5-4 in those games.

The addition of Carter has seemingly woken up the Kings offence, however, as they scored 22 goals in their recent six game win streak.  That said, in their two most recent games (both losses), LA has scored just twice.  Carter has opened things up a little bit by giving them two scoring lines, while the play of the top lines has also helped things along.

That top line is being lead by Williams right now who has five goals and ten points over his last 11 games.  He’s been one of the most consistent forwards on the team of late.

It’s the first of what will need to be many more wins down the stretch here, but it’s a start for the Calgary Flames.  The Flames battled back from two seperate one goal deficits on Monday night to top the Dallas Stars 5-4 in their final meeting this season.  The win snaps Calgary’s five game losing skid with five games remaining.

What Happened

This one got off to a nightmare start with Flames killer Jamie Benn opening the scoring 26 seconds in, firing a knuckleball at Miikka Kiprusoff and beating him for his 25th of the season.  It was a bit of a fire drill start for Calgary as they allowed a ton of odd man rushes but also had a few of their own.  On a Trevor Daley high sticking call, the Flames would draw even at 6:53 thanks to Olli Jokinen.  He’d take a pass from Lee Stempniak in the slot and wire home his 22nd of the season, snapping a seven game pointless drought in the process.  We had a tie game after one period.

Benn would score early in the second to set up a wild final frame, getting his 26th on a wicked shot from the high slot good for his 26th of the season 44 seconds in.  But that’s the last time Dallas would lead.  At 9:16, Blake Comeau was gifted the tying goal when Mike Ribeiro through it out to him in the slot from behind the net.  Comeau’s fifth set up Mike Cammalleri’s 17th of the season 45 seconds later, converting a Jarome Iginla pass for Calgary’s first lead of the game.  But at 14:29, Ribeiro would get his gaffe back by converting on his 17th on a goal mouth scramble, giving us a tie game with just over five minutes to go.  On another Dallas penalty, it’d be advantage Flames once again thanks to mark Giordano, as he slapped an Iginla pass past Kari Lehtonen from the point for his ninth at 16:58.  Then, on another powerplay, Alex Tanguay would give the Flames their biggest lead of the evening with 28 seconds to go in the period.  His 13th of the season came from Cammalleri and put Calgary in the drivers seat for the final 20.

It was a Dallas powerplay marker that would get them back within one at 5:24 of the third, as Phillip Larsen would follow up his own rebound for his second of the season.  The best chance for the Stars to tie came midway through the period when Cammalleri coughed the puck up at center and sent Loui Eriksson in on a break, only to have Kiprusoff save the day, preserving Calgary’s 5-4 win.

One Good Reason…

…why the Flames won?  The powerplay.  Calgary scored three goals on the man advantage, converting at a very nice 50% for the evening.  While it’s been a bit of a problem as of late, they have scored multiple powerplay goals in two of their last three games.  On this night, it was the reason why they were able to bulge their lead, and it ended up being very important.

Red Warrior

I’ll give it to the captain.  Jarome Iginla finished the night with a pair of assists and was the driving force on Calgary’s top line, which was largely effective against Dallas.  Iginla snapped a personal string of five straight games without a point, and it couldn’t come at a more desperate time.  The Flames needed this one, and they were lead by their top players.

Sum It Up

The win only gets Calgary one point closer to a playoff spot, and it doesn’t change how tough their situation is.  That said, they were able to snap a five game losing skid and they started a very impressive stretch with a ton of home games with some confidence.  The Flames still have important head-to-head games with Colorado and Los Angeles, so of course it isn’t over yet.

With their playoff hopes dangling by a very thin thread, the Calgary Flames will finish their season series with the Dallas Stars tonight at the Saddledome (7 pm, Sportsnet West and Sportsnet 960).  The Flames fell 4-1 to these very same Stars on Saturday afternoon, stretching their losing streak to five in the process.

Calgary Flames 34-27-15, 11th Western Conference

Alex Tanguay-Mike Cammalleri-Jarome Iginla
Curtis Glencross-Olli Jokinen-David Moss
Blake Comeau-Matt Stajan-Lee Stempniak
Tom Kostopoulos-Blair Jones-Tim Jackman

Jay Bouwmeester-Chris Butler
Mark Giordano-Scott Hannan
Clay Wilson-Anton Babchuk

Miikka Kiprusoff

Roman Horak and Lance Bouma will sit this one out tonight as healthy scratches while Cory Sarich will miss his third straight game with a concussion.  The good news is he was back on the ice this morning with the main group taking part in full skate.  Head Coach Brent Sutter says Sarich is unavailable for tonight, but if he’s back skating, he can’t be too far off a return.  T.J. Brodie has yet to resume skating on the Flames blueline, however.

The Flames are struggling to score right now, and a big reason for that is their lack of production from their top players.  Jarome Iginla has gone pointless in five straight games after putting up 14 points in the eight games prior while Olli Jokinen has gone without a point in seven consecutive games.  Both Alex Tanguay and Curtis Glencross have just one assist over their last five games individually.  When you’re not getting things from your top offensive players, you’re going to have some large production problems.

The largest issue right now for the Flames is time.  Their elimination number has fallen to five games to the currently eighth place LA Kings, and their road to the playoff target 94 points is not an easy one.  For that to happen for Calgary, they’d have to go 5-0-1 in their final six games, and with five of those six games against playoff worthy opposition, that record seems very unlikely.  That said, the Flames had better play like they’ve still got a chance, because even if it’s very slim, playing like that’s the case would be very disappointing.

Dallas Stars 41-29-5, 3rd Western Conference

Loui Eriksson-Mike Ribeiro-Michael Ryder
Jamie Benn-Steve Ott-Adam Burish
Eric Nystrom-Vernon Fiddler-Radek Dvorak
Brenden Morrow-Tom Wandell-Tomas Vincour

Sheldon Souray-Stephane Robidas
Trevor Daley-Adam Pardy
Phillip Larsen-Alex Goligoski

Kari Lehtonen

Lehtonen’s strong performance in Saturday’s home win over Calgary was his 31st victory of the season, and he’s been red hot of late.  Lehtonen has won four of his last six starts, posting a 1.65 goals against average and a .942 save percentage over that same span.  He was one of the biggest reasons Dallas was a team in the playoff mix this year, and he’s a huge reason why they’re battling for a Pacific Division title this year.

The Ribeiro line has been rolling of late, with the aforementioned center picking up four assists over his last three games.  He assisted on Ryder’s game winner in the first period which also served to continue the Newfoundland native’s career season.  Ryder now has 33 goals on the season, 16 of those being scored since the All Star break.

You can expect to see Morrow pop up to the second line sometime during this game, maybe even to start.  He spent some time on the fourth line on Saturday as the coaching staff hasn’t been thrilled with his play of late.  Morrow did score his tenth of the season late in that contest, sealing the game into an empty net; he has three points in his first seven games after missing 18 with an injury.

The Calgary Flames put in a valiant effort to try and equalize a one goal game in the third period, but in the end, falling down two goals in the first period was their undoing in a tough 4-1 loss to the Dallas Stars.  It serves as a fifth straight loss for the Flames and puts another huge dent in their chances for the Western Conference playoffs.

What Happened

Things got off on the wrong foot for the visitors just 97 seconds in thanks to Jamie Benn, as the former Kelowna Rocket would wraparound the Flames net and slip the puck underneath Miikka Kiprusoff for his 23rd of the season.  At 7:17, Michael Ryder would snap home his 33rd of the season, taking a pass from Mike Ribeiro in the slot and easily fending off a checking Blair Jones for a two goal Stars lead.  But just past the midway mark of the opening frame, Calgary put in one of their best shifts of the evening and capitalized on it.  Anton Babchuk took a pass from Mark Giordano at the left point and slipped through a perfect pass to Mike Cammalleri in the right circle.  The returning sniper would fire home his 16th of the season, getting the Flames within one after 20 minutes.

The second half of the first was fairly even, and so was the entire middle frame even though Calgary fired more shots on Kari Lehtonen in the Dallas net.  The Flames outshot the Stars 14-6 but were unable to convert very many of those shots into quality scoring chances, keeping them down a goal heading into the final period.

The third saw the Flames really start to do a good job of turning zone time and shots into real scoring chances, but it quickly turned into the Lehtonen show.  The Stars goaltender made a number of huge stops in the period as a chasing Calgary team did a good job of creating to tie the match, but when you fall down by two goals, sometimes you’re not going to come back and tie.  The Flames didn’t, and Dallas hammered home a massive blow at 16:27 after a defensive breakdown.  With the Stars cycling down low, Olli Jokinen lost his assignment and Benn was left all alone in the right circle.  Steve Ott found him wide open and Benn wasn’t going to miss that type of opportunity, and his second of the night allowed Brenden Morrow’s empty netter at 18:32 to get us to our 4-1 final score.

One Good Reason…

…why the Flames lost?  A bad start, plain and simple.  Things were pretty even for the middle 30 minutes leading to the third period, but most of the time when you trail after 40 minutes, you’re not going to tie things.  Yeah, the Flames outchanced the Stars in the third, but that’s what happens in hockey and Lehtonen earns his paycheck night in and night out.  Calgary could very well have tied this game, but they didn’t because they trailed after two periods of play against a team fighting for a playoff spot.  The Flames have trailed after 40 minutes in 30 of their 76 games this season, and most of the time, you’re going to lose in regulation.

Red Warrior

Mike Cammalleri.  Brent Sutter switched his lines up very early in the game putting Cammalleri with Jarome Iginla and Alex Tanguay, and he then proceeded to use the trio in a very offensive role.  It was the most dominant line for the Flames on the afternoon and if they want to keep the hope alive, that’s how they’re going to have to play on Monday night.

Sum It Up

Did Calgary deserve to lose this game 4-1?  Probably not.  But Dallas was 100% deserving of the win.  The Stars controlled the first period for the most period, staked themselves to a lead, and played fairly effectively with it for the remainder of the game.  I don’t come away from this game saying “Calgary deserved the win” at all; they could have tied it, but they didn’t, and they fall further back of the playoffs.

For a third straight game, the Calgary Flames went to extra time, and for a third straight game they’d be unable to secure the extra point falling 3-2 in a shootout at the hands of the Minnesota Wild.  The loss is tough to take for obvious playoff reasons, but also because they coughed up a two goal lead to a non-playoff team.

What Happened

It was all Calgary in the first period firing 17 shots on Josh Harding in the opening 20 minutes, thanks in large part to a ton of powerplay time.  After being unsuccessful on their first two man advantages, the Flames would finally score a man up thanks to Lee Stempniak.  He’d grab a loose puck to the left of the Minnesota crease and loft in his 13th of the season at 18:54 with Steve Kampfer in the penalty box for interference.  The powerplay goal would snap a string of 15 opportunities without a goal and gave the Flames a one goal lead heading into the second.

The second period saw the Wild get themselves in more and more penalty trouble, and it would bite them…but not as hardly as it could have.  With Tom Gilbert in the penalty box for high sticking serving a double minor, Nate Prosser would take an ill-advised call for closing his hand on the puck and giving the Flames an extended amount of time 5-on-3.  Anton Babchuk would make the Wild pay, taking a weak clearing attempt off the left boards and gaining some extra space to let loose his monster of a slap shot, beating Harding for his first of the season at 1:38.  Because of the timing of Babchuk’s goal, Calgary had some more extended time with the two man advantage yet would not be able to make good on a number of chances.  Up 2-0, Curtis Glencross would take a slashing penalty to give Minnesota a powerplay, and the Wild would make good.  Taking a pass at the left circle from Devin Setoguchi, Dany Heatley would snap a career high eight game goalless drought for his 21st of the season.  Heatley’s powerplay marker gave the Wild a fighting chance heading to the third.

It was shell city for the Flames in the third period as Minnesota started to push hard for the equalizer, outshooting the Flames 12-3 in the final frame.  At 12:23 the Wild would draw even on a play that would go to video review.  With a goal-mouth scramble ensuing around Miikka Kiprusoff, Darroll Powe would poke the puck juuuuuuuuust past the Flames goalie to tie the game at two.  Neither team would score in the remaining seven minutes and for a third straight game, it was off to overtime.

Mark Giordano had the best chance of the extra frame with Mark Giordano hammering a shot off the inside post from the left circle beating Harding clean.  However, with no overtime goals, it was shootout time as Calgary would look to figure out their woes.  In trying to do that, Brent Sutter would change up his regular shooters going with Matt Stajan, Stempniak, and Blair Jones all being thwarted by Harding.  The good news is, Kiprusoff would stop Erik Christensen, Matt Cullen, and Mikko Koivu, sending this to a fourth round.  That fourth round would see Setoguchi score and put the pressure on Blake Comeau who would be unsuccessful sending Calgary to a 3-2 shootout loss.

One Good Reason…

…why the Flames lost?  As much as the shootout decisions will be ripped apart, I point to much earlier than that as to why Calgary lost this one.  After Heatley scored on Glencross’s silly penalty, the Flames went into a very noticeable shell trying to protect their one goal lead.  It was especially prevelant in the third period, which allowed Minnesota to run up the scoring chances and shots on goal.  You shouldn’t be outshot like that by this Wild team, and it’s the reason why they tied it which set up Minnesota’s opportunity to win it in a shootout.

Red Warrior

I’ll go Lee Stempniak, as I thought he was the best player on the Calgary third line tonight which seemed to be their most effective unit from start to finish.  Stempniak scored the powerplay goal in the first period and was in on a few scoring chances for the team while spending a good amount of team at the right end of the ice.

Sum It Up

Well, this one hurts.  Giving up a two goal lead to the Minnesota Wild and losing in a shootout makes gaining that single point of little consolation.  At the time of this writing, there are still plenty of important out of town games going on, so we won’t have an elimination number till later on.  With two of a possible six points against the three worst teams in the Western Conference at this time of year just can’t happen, and this one may be the most frustrating of the three.

The reinforcements are here!  The Calgary Flames look to get significantly healthier than they have been in recent games tonight when they visit the Minnesota Wild for the final time this season (6 pm, Sportsnet West and Sportsnet 960).  Calgary is looking to snap a three game losing streak and stay in the race for the Western Conference’s final playoff spots.

Calgary Flames 34-26-14, 11th Western Conference

Alex Tanguay-Matt Stajan-Jarome Iginla
Curtis Glencross-Olli Jokinen-David Moss
Blake Comeau-Blair Jones-Lee Stempniak
Lance Bouma-Tom Kostopoulos-Tim Jackman

Chris Butler-Jay Bouwmeester
Mark Giordano-Scott Hannan
Derek Smith-Anton Babchuk

Miikka Kiprusoff

You may notice a trio of familiar faces set to return to the Flames lineup tonight, as Jones, Bouma, and Butler all seem likely to return.  While they’re officially gametime decisions, it’s a good bet all three will play in this one.  Butler’s return is timed as Cory Sarich exits the lineup after suffering an injury Tuesday in Colorado after colliding with David Jones in overtime.  Sarich is back in Calgary getting evaluated with no timetable on his return.  Butler has missed 14 games with a leg laceration.

Up front, Jones will return after missing 19 games with a broken ankle and it gives the Flames some much needed depth down the middle.  Prior to his injury, Jones was filling a role that no one has played since Daymond Langkow was on this team.  Simply put, Jones was used as a checking center and was buried with defensive starts and tough competition.  He wasn’t awful in filling that role and it opened things up for the top two lines in the process.

Bouma is back after eight games on the shelf with an upper body injury and he gives Calgary’s fourth line a high energy, phsyical look to it.  With Sarich on the sidelines for the time being, the injury situation is much less dire yet still a factor.  The Flames are missing also Mike Cammalleri (upper body), Mikael Backlund (shoulder), and T.J. Brodie (upper body).

Minnesota Wild 30-32-10, 13th Western Conference

Dany Heatley-Mikko Koivu-Devin Setoguchi
Erik Christensen-Matt Cullen-Cal Clutterbuck
Darroll Powe-Kyle Brodziak-Nick Johnson
Stephane Veilleux-Warren Peters-Jed Ortmeyer

Clayton Stoner-Tom Gilbert
Marco Scandella-Jared Spurgeon
Steve Kampfer-Nate Prosser

Josh Harding

The Wild are coming off a somewhat surprising 2-0 win over the Vancouver Canucks on Monday night, but let’s be honest here, the season is done for these guys.  After battling for top spot in the conference for a better part of the first half of the season, Minnesota has suffered the effects of a cruel eqaulizing of fortune going 9-19-4 since the calender flipped to 2012.

They do get some good news tonight with the return of their captain.  Mikko Koivu is back in the lineup after missing 15 games with an upper body injury.  The injury bug has been a significant reason why you’ve seen the Wild slump so far down the standings, as they’ve lost two important forwards to concussion this season.  Guillaumme Latendresse has missed 40 games while Pierre-Marc Bouchard has sat out 31 games this season, taking a big bite out of Minnesota’s top six forwards.

Tuesday’s 2-1 overtime loss for the Calgary Flames at the hands of the Colorado Avalanche went the way a lot of people thought it would.  Things were tight from start to finish with momentum shifts back and forth, and in the end, it was David Jones scoring his 18th of the year late in the extra frame to push Colorado three points clear of the Flames in the Western Conference.

What Happened

It didn’t take long for the Flames to open the scoring, and it came from a suddenly usual suspect.  At 1:47, Matt Stajan took the puck in the right corner and was able to bank it off the boards back to himself and put it past Semyon Varlamov from the right side of the slot for a 1-0 lead.  Colorado would tie it near the midway mark thanks to Paul Stastny as he’d tip home a Shane O’Brien point shot at 9:05 for his 19th of the season.  Overall, it was a fairly even period shots favoring the Avs at 12-10 and both teams getting some quality scoring opportunities.

The second period was very even once again with shots even at ten and no scoring to speak of.  Calgary had their first powerplay but were unable to score and both goaltenders had to be sharp for the odd chances they’d get.

Tied at one after 40, the third period saw both teams have some quality opportunities once again.  Ryan O’Reilly put a glorious opportunity off the crossbar while Varlamov had to make a big stop in the final seconds to send this game to overtime.  With two powerplays, Calgary was able to get a few more shots in the final frame, outshooting Colorado 12-7, but not a ton of those 12 shots were really quality scoring opportunities.  After regulation, the Flames faced the NHL’s best team in extra time in their home barn.

Early in overtime, a flip pass looking for David Jones at the left side of center lead to unfortunate circumstances.  Jones would jump to try and knock down the puck and he’d inadvertently collide with Cory Sarich, knocking the Flames defenseman out for the remainder of the game.  A little later on, Stastny would take the puck towards the net and be unable to get a shot on Miikka Kiprusoff.  Following up, Jones was able to bank it off of Kiprusoff from behind the net and in, good for the winner at 3:50.

One Good Reason…

…why the Flames lost?  On this night, the powerplay.  When things are so tight, as they were the entire way at even strength, you have to find a way to bury your opportunities when you’re a man up.  I counted one real scoring opportunity on the powerplay which can’t be the case.  Calgary was awarded three powerplays against Colorado while the Avalanche weren’t awarded one; when things go that way for you, you have to make sure you take advantage.

Red Warrior

I liked Alex Tanguay in this one.  By deploying the Jokinen trio against the Landeskog line, the unit of Tanguay-Stajan-Iginla was able to get some more favorable matchups, and saw a lot of offensive starts.  Once again, I thought Tanguay was dangerous every time he was around the puck, and he ended up with an assist on the Stajan goal early on.

Sum It Up

Well, it’s not as bad as it could be, but with a three point game between Dallas and Phoenix and a full two points going to Colorado, the Flames lost ground on a number of teams.  I’d rather be tracking Calgary’s magic number, but for the time being, we have to look at their elimination number which we’ll start tracking…

Elimination Number: 7.5

That number will fall by one anytime the Flames lose in regulation and by .5 if they lose in extra time (like they did in this one).  Wins by the eighth place team in the conference will drop the number by one as well, while a loser point will drop it by .5.  You’d rather have that number higher than the amount of games you have left, but that’s not the situation the Flames are in tonight.  Next up for Calgary, they take on the Minnesota Wild on Thursday night.

The Calgary Flames can’t move into a playoff spot regardless of what happens tonight, but a win over their opponents might go a long way in determining their postseason fate good or bad. The Flames kick off a three game road trip in Denver for their fifth meeting with the Colorado Avalanche this season; the Avs have yet to win a game.

Calgary Flames 34-26-13, 11th Western Conference

Alex Tanguay-Matt Stajan-Jarome Iginla
Curtis Glencross-Olli Jokinen-Tom Kostopoulos
Blake Comeau-David Moss-Lee Stempniak
Guillaume Desbiens-Roman Horak-Tim Jackman

Jay Bouwmeester-Cory Sarich
Mark Giordano-Scott Hannan
Derek Smith-Anton Babchuk

Miikka Kiprusoff

Jackman returns after missing the last six games with a shoulder injury which means Greg Nemisz comes out of the lineup.  Lance Bouma and Blair Jones are also on the trip along with defenseman Chris Butler, so we could see three more regulars back in the lineup before the trip wraps up Saturday in Dallas.

The Flames will look to snap a two game losing skid after weekend losses to Edmonton and Columbus. The thing with Calgary is, they seem to be just fine in terms of their urgency level in games that have built-in implications. In games that maybe fall more into the “gimme” category, they’ve struggled all year long, as the last two losses speak clearly to. Seeing the Flames jacked up and ready for this one will not be of any surprise to me.

Calgary has won nine straight games against the Avalanche, which looms a little scary to me thanks largely to a similar example. The Flames have Edmonton’s number for the longest time, yet the Oilers have been able to snap that recent trend with two consecutive wins this season. Colorado is markedly better than the Oilers, and they are very well aware of how little success they’ve had against Calgary, so the Flames better be ready for a motivated opponent.

Colorado Avalanche 39-30-5, 8th Western Conference

Gabriel Landeskog-Ryan O’Reilly-Steve Downie
Jamie McGinn-Paul Stastny-David Jones
Mark Olver-Matt Duchene-Peter Mueller
Cody McLeod-Jay McClement-Milan Hejduk

Shane O’Brien-Erik Johnson
Jan Hejda-Ryan O’Byrne
Matt Hunwick-Ryan Wilson

Semyon Varlamov

This may be the deepest Avalanche lineup the Flames have faced in their current nine game win streak over them. Colorado is deep with four pretty darn good centers, and at least one solid scoring winger on each line. The fact that Duchene is centering the third line speaks to just how damn good the Landeskog-O’Reilly pairing has been this season. Their line with Downie on the right side may be the most underrated trio in the NHL right now. They play the toughest competition on the ice and will be deployed in any situation five-on-five, and they’ve only gotten better as the season has gone along.

The other thing Colorado has going for them is their lack of injuries. The only significant piece of news on their injured list is former Flames first rounder Chuck Kobasew, who is listed day-to-day with a sore back. He’s close to returning any day now.

The Avalanche have put together a pretty good string of late, going 6-3-1 over their last ten games, including a 2-0-1 record on their Eastern Conference road trip. They picked up wins over the Sabres and Rangers on that trip while falling in a shootout to the Devils. This is their first home game back, so we’ll see if they have the same kind of intensity level against a Northwest Division rival.

The Calgary Flames had an opportunity to continue a really nice stretch with weekend games against the 14th and 15th placed teams in the Western Conference.  Instead of taking care of business against teams below them in the standings, they fell 3-1 Friday in Edmonton and followed that up with a 2-1 shootout loss Sunday against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

What Happened

A very uninspired first period ended up costing the Flames at 13:03 thanks to a laser beam Nikita Nikitin shot.  The Columbus defenseman took a one-timer pass from Brett Lebda to wire home his third of the season for a Blue Jackets lead.  Shortly thereafter, Guillaume Desbiens dropped the gloves with Jared Boll which seemed to spark the home side.  They’d get a powerplay late in the period as well, and even though they were unable to score, they were able to increase their shots on from two to seven in the final five minutes of the frame.

Calgary was able to carry things over in the second period where they put 16 shots on the Columbus net, a number of which were quality scoring chances.  However Steve Mason, who had come in to relieve the injured Curtis Sanford, would do the job against the Flames shooters keeping the Jackets up a goal after 40 minutes.

The Flames remained solid in the third period and were finally able to break through at 8:34 thanks to one of the hotter players on the team.  Matt Stajan took a nice pass from Curtis Glencross from behind the net and was able to sneak it past Mason for his seventh of the season and a 1-1 tie.  The teams went back and forth with a number of chances both ways, but after regulation things were all square.

Overtime didn’t have much with only three shots combined, and there was only one goal in the shootout that followed.  Kiprusoff and Mason stopped the first three shooters on either side until Cam Atkinson put Columbus up by one on their fourth shot.  Mason would stop Iginla as Calgary needed to score and the Jackets would come away with a 2-1 win.  It was a game where the Flames had the balance of scoring chances but only scored the one time in regulation.

One Good Reason…

…why the Flames lost?  On this night: a hot goaltender and the coin flipping the other way.  Despite a weak start, this was one of Calgary’s better games all season in terms of possessing the puck and generating scoring chances.  Give Mason credit, for the first time in eons, he played an effective game against Calgary.  They were able to get their one goal to force extra time, and once you get to a shootout, you’re in coin flip territory and once again, it flipped the way of the opposition.  The Flames now drop to 3-8 in shootouts this season.

Red Warrior

I thought Blake Comeau hammered things tonight.  He was physical, quick, engaged, and on the right side of far more scoring chances for than against.  Comeau needs to play this way every night, because when he does, he’s very effective in a third line role.  A lot of the scoring chances he was in on were thanks to some great work for him, and he was a big part of Stajan’s equalizer in the third.  Good stuff from him.

Sum It Up

In a lot of ways, I look at this game and see the equalization of bounces.  Calgary was significantly better for the majority of this one, but the puck just did not bounce their way and they ran into a red hot goaltender.  Well, that’s kind of been a large part of Calgary’s winning formula in 2012.  They’ve been buoyed by great Kiprusoff goaltending and some opportunistic scoring, which was how Columbus won this one.  Still, one of a possible four points against Edmonton and Columbus isn’t good enough, and now Tuesday’s game in Colorado looms in a very eery manner.

The Calgary Flames will not be in a playoff spot on Monday morning, but they can at the very least be within a point of one if they can come away with a victory tonight.  Really, there’s no excuse for them not to come away with a win tonight because they’re playing the NHL’s worst team in the Columbus Blue Jackets (6 pm, Sportsnet West and Sportsnet 960).

That said, the Flames were playing the Western Conference’s 14th place opponent on Friday night and they still fell 3-1 at the hands of the Edmonton Oilers.  Losing back-to-back games against non-playoff teams isn’t the mark of a group headed to the postseason themselves, so a win here is crucial.  The out of town scoreboard was worst case scenario on Saturday night with the Kings, Sharks, and Avalanche all winning.

Calgary Flames 34-26-12, 11th Western Conference

Alex Tanguay-Matt Stajan-Jarome Iginla
Curtis Glencross-Olli Jokinen-Tom Kostopoulos
Blake Comeau-David Moss-Lee Stempniak
Guillaume Desbiens-Greg Nemisz-Roman Horak

Jay Bouwmeester-Derek Smith
Mark Giordano-Scott Hannan
Cory Sarich-Anton Babchuk

Miikka Kiprusoff

Lee Stempniak returns tonight after missing 21 games with a high ankle sprain which was the reason you saw Sven Baertschi return to Portland of the Western Hockey League on Saturday.  You can expect Desbiens and Nemisz to be sent back down to Abbotsford in the coming days with Tim Jackman and Lance Bouma both very close to returning to game action, as both skated with the team at morning skate once again.  The return of those two players would mean Calgary is out of emergency recall territory.

Kiprusoff gets the start tonight after Leland Irving gave the chance a team for success in Edmonton.  He’s been returned to the American Hockey League already and with just one regular callup remaining for the team, I really don’t expect to see Irving back for the rest of the season.  How it shakes down for next season is anyone’s guess.

Calgary is 11-3 against opponents on the second half of back-to-back games and that is the case once again in this one.  With that scenario, and with the last placed team in your building, there is zero excuse for the Flames to lose this game tonight.

Columbus Blue Jackets 22-42-7, 15th Western Conference

R.J. Umberger-Derrick Brassard-Rick Nash
Vinny Prospal-Mark Letestu-Cam Atkinson
Ryan Russell-Darryl Boyce-Derek Dorsett
Colton Gillies-Ryan Johansen-Jared Boll

Jack Johnson-James Wisniewski
John Moore-Nikita Nikitin
Aaron Johnson-Brett Lebda

Curtis Sanford

The Blue Jackets lost 4-2 in Vancouver on Saturday night dropping them a dreadful 20 games below the .500 mark this season.  That said, they’ve been just fine playing spoiler of late with somewhat recent wins over Phoenix (two in fact) and Colorado.  By all rights they should be beaten every single night, as they are last placed for a reason, but they’re still an NHL squad, so they will take advantage of bad hockey on the other side.

We’re not sure if Sanford will start tonight or not, as Steve Mason got the start in Vancouver.  Mason could very well go as he’s been playing his best hockey of the season of late.  That said, it’s been awful for the most part all season for the former rookie standout.  Clearly also aided by his team, Mason’s save percentage sits at .894 and his goals against is sky high at 3.31.  Sanford has fared slightly better with a 2.62 goals against and a .911 save percentage including .923 at even strength.

It’s been a decent start to his time in Columbus for Jack Johnson as the former Kings bluliner has put up three goals and six points in his ten games since joining the team.  Not only has Jackson produced for the Jackets, but not having Jeff Carter in their lineup has seemingly done nothing but good things for them.  He was clearly someone who didn’t want to be there and even though they’re not playoff bound, Johnson seemingly does have the desire to help the team.