FLAMES DOWN AVS
Playoff spot within reach
The Calgary Flames can make it official in their next contest.
Thanks to Monday’s 4-2 victory over the cellar-dwelling Colorado Avalanche at the Saddledome, the arithmetic is now pretty darn simple for the Flames — with a regulation win in Wednesday’s home date against the Los Angeles Kings, they can seal their playoff invite.
In fact, with a bit of help Tuesday from the provincial rival Edmonton Oilers, any sort of victory would do the trick.
That’s right, one more W and it would be off to the dance.
“If we focus on the right thing — closing in on a playoff spot — then I think we should be ready to go,” Flames centre Mikael Backlund said after Monday’s morning skate, insisting the Flames wouldn’t mail it in against their opponents.
“Since you’re so close, you want to get in. I think that should be a good motivator for us.”
They’ll be even more motivated for the next one.
Sean Monahan scored and notched a hat trick of helpers in a first-star performance against the Avalanche, while Micheal Ferland and Troy Brouwer also tickled twine for the hosts and Johnny Gaudreau sealed it with a late empty-netter.
The Flames (43-29-4) remain in the first wild-card slot in the Western Conference and have now stretched their lead over the ninth-place Los Angeles Kings to 13 points, although Jarome Iginla & Co. have a pair of games in hand. They’ll burn one of those Tuesday against the Oilers at Rogers Place.
The Avalanche are the NHL’s worst team by a country mile, so bad they could run the table in their final seven outings and still not get a sniff of 29th overall.
To a man, the Flames insisted they wouldn’t be caught snoozing against their opponents and they backed it up with a power-play strike just 90 seconds after Monday’s national anthems.
With old pal Joe Colborne seated in the sin bin for tripping, Monahan’s low shot glanced off the boot of Avalanche defenceman Erik Johnson and found the back of the net.
Calgary’s second scoring sequence started when Monahan stripped Johnson with a pokecheck in the neutral zone. Ferland lost the handle as the puck carrier on the three-on-one rush, but eventually swooped back toward the blue paint and buried a rebound after Gaudreau’s wraparound attempt.
Avalanche winger Sven Andrighetto spoiled Brian Elliott’s shutout bid with a man-advantage marker early in the third, but Brouwer picked the top shelf on another power play less than two minutes later as the Flames restored their two-goal edge. Once again, Monahan provided the setup.
Brouwer’s goal would become the game-winner after Andrighetto scored again with less than two minutes remaining, but then Gaudreau scored into an empty net.