Battle of Alberta still a motivator for Flames
If the Calgary Flames need to dig deep and find reasons to stay fully motivated during their final stretch of games this season, at least Saturday night should be easy.
It's the Edmonton Oilers who are rolling into town, after all, and a Battle of Alberta always packs a little extra punch, figuratively speaking.
Does it matter in the standings? No, not for the Flames.
But being mathematically eliminated doesn't mean the bragging rights don't matter.
“For the city, they can take it into the summer and throw some chirps around at the Oilers fans,” said Flames defenceman Mackenzie Weegar. “It's always going to be a big game.”
The Flames were mathematically eliminated from playoff contention with Thursday night's loss to the Winnipeg Jets, but the writing had been on the wall for a while.
The Oilers, meanwhile, are on a furious quest to track down the Vancouver Canucks and finish the regular season in first place in the Pacific Division. Heading into Friday night's game against the Colorado Avalanche, the Oilers found themselves seven points back of the Canucks with two games in hand.
So the margins are thin for the Flames' rivals to the north, but first place is still very much a possibility.
If you're the Flames, perhaps making it a little harder for the Oilers can serve as extra motivation.
But that might not even be necessary. This is the Battle of Alberta. Motivation is never hard to come by.
“Every time you play and it's Oilers-flames, it's a different atmosphere and a different energy that comes into the building,” said Flames rookie Connor Zary. “It doesn't really matter where we're at or where they're at, it's that rivalry that gets ignited and it's always fun.”
It's also a big deal for guys who have never played in a Battle of Alberta, like Daniil Miromanov. He was acquired in the trade that sent Noah Hanifin to the Vegas Golden Knights at the beginning of March and though he's played in big rivalry games before, Saturday will be his first game against the Oilers in a Flames uniform.
And yeah, he's hyped about the opportunity.
“I'm excited,” Miromanov said. “You know, hockey in Canada is a different hockey. It's really exciting, I experienced that a little bit against Montreal at home, it was a great atmosphere, a great game. I think it's going to be a great game and a great battle, so I'm excited for it.”
PROGRESS MADE
As the Flames awaited word on whether Martin Pospisil would receive any supplementary discipline for the hit on Jets defenceman Josh Morrissey that saw the young Slovakian tossed from Thursday night's game, head coach Ryan Huska spoke about his player being more careful on the ice.
The Flames don't want Pospisil dramatically changing his game, but they do need him making sure he doesn't cross the line. That's something that has been communicated to the 24-year-old and Huska believes there's been progress since the last time he was suspended in early March.
“There's nights in our games where he's had seven to 10 hits in a game and none of them over the last month have been, `Oh, that's a bad hit,'” Huska said. “He's still doing a good job finishing his hits, he's trying to play hard, he's trying to be first on the forecheck, which we want him to do, all those things. Last night would probably be the first one where you could even remotely question one of his hits.”