FLAMES IN UPHILL BATTLE FOR PLAYOFF SPOT
End of win streak drops Calgary further back in Western Conference wild-card hunt
Somehow, the Calgary Flames managed to win five straight games and still lose ground in the playoff race.
On the morning of Feb. 19, right before the Flames kicked off their winning streak, they were five points back of the St. Louis Blues, who were sitting in the Western Conference's second wild-card spot.
On Monday night after they saw their streak snapped by a 4-2 loss to the Seattle Kraken, they went to bed looking at a seven-point gap between themselves and the Nashville Predators, who have taken over the final playoff spot after going eight games without a loss.
The margins, as they say, are paper thin.
“I feel like it's been that way for a long time because of the start we had,” said Flames head coach Ryan Huska, referring to the sixgame losing streak early in the season that put them way behind the 8-ball. “At the end of the day, we put ourselves in this position where all our games are important games and they have been for a long time.”
The Flames have done an admirable job clawing their way back into playoff contention in the past four months. Once they figured out their new defensive system, they became a lot more difficult to play against and started winning a lot more games.
In the 51 contests since that six-game losing streak, they've gone 28-19-4.
This is neither here nor there, but their .588 points percentage during that stretch would have them in a playoff position.
But the Flames dug themselves a hole with those six early losses. And it's created a situation where there's absolutely no room for error. A loss like the one they suffered to the Kraken on Monday night hurts that much more when you're trying to make up ground on a red-hot team like the Predators.
You could feel the sense of disappointment in the Flames locker room post-game. They know where they're at in the standings and they know how much every loss hurts their playoff chances.
“It puts more pressure on us right now,” said Flames winger Andrew Mangiapane. “We have 20 games left in the season. Each game is important to us. We're trying to claw back here and need every two points.”
This all matters to the Flames' playoff hopes, but it's significant to the bigger, long-term picture, too.
Management has already traded Nikita Zadorov, Elias Lindholm and Chris Tanev this season. Those guys were all set to become unrestricted free agents in the summer and their situations are all unique.
It's entirely possible that they would have been traded away even if the Flames were in a playoff position, but the fact the team was on the outside looking in only made the decision to move on from them that much more obvious.
That applies to Noah Hanifin, too, who will surely be traded in the next couple of days.
“It's how the league works. If you're on an expiring deal and you're out of the playoffs, it's most likely you're going to be traded,” said Flames blueliner Rasmus Andersson last week.
And it didn't matter that the Flames were playing arguably the best hockey of their season when Tanev was dealt. Their position in the standings was still precarious and the chances of them making the playoffs were still low.
When you're winning five games in a row and the gap between yourself and the team you're chasing is growing, the odds just aren't in your favour.
The guys in the locker room will keep fighting. There's no quit in them and that's to be admired and respected. They've overcome a lot already and have stayed in the fight.
But if you're Flames general manager Craig Conroy, you can't afford to gamble on keeping soon-to-be free agents around when the margins are this thin.
POSPISIL SET FOR HEARING
Martin Pospisil will be having a hearing with the NHL'S Department of Player Safety.
The Flames winger was issued a five-minute major and a game misconduct for running Kraken defenceman Vince Dunn headfirst into the boards late in their game Monday night.
The incident infuriated the Kraken, with head coach Dave Hakstol calling it “garbage.”
Dunn left the ice immediately and did not return, and Pospisil now has a hearing on Wednesday.
The incident marked the second time in a month the rookie has been ejected from a game. He was issued a game misconduct Feb. 7 for cross-checking Boston's Brad Marchand.
The Flames have three games this week, starting with Thursday against the Tampa Bay Lightning, followed by mid-afternoon games against the Florida Panthers on Saturday and the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday.