Calgary Flames Game Day 75: One more battle with the Kings (7pm MT, SNW/960)
By Ryan Pike
1 year agoBe sure to check Betway for the latest Flames game NHL odds!
With their playoff hopes still technically alive, albeit hanging by a thread, the Calgary Flames (33-26-15, 81 points) face a stiff test on home ice in the form of the Los Angeles Kings (43-20-10, 96 points). Not only have the Kings yet to lose in regulation in the month of March, and we’re running out of March for them to lose in, but they walloped the Flames in their last meeting in California eight days ago.
The broadcast begins at 7 p.m. MT on Sportsnet West and Sportsnet 960 The Fan!
The Flames
Projected lines courtesy Daily Faceoff:
Mangiapane – Lindholm – Toffoli
Huberdeau – Backlund – Coleman
Ritchie – Kadri – Dube
Lucic – Lewis – Duehr
Huberdeau – Backlund – Coleman
Ritchie – Kadri – Dube
Lucic – Lewis – Duehr
Hanifin – Andersson
Zadorov – Weegar
Gilbert – Stecher
Zadorov – Weegar
Gilbert – Stecher
We’re projecting Jacob Markstrom to start for the Flames. He’s backed up by Dan Vladar. The projected extras are Jakob Pelletier, Adam Ruzicka and Matt Coronato. We’re expecting Chris Tanev to miss his fourth consecutive game with an upper body injury.
The Flames beat the Sharks on Saturday afternoon to keep their playoff hopes alive, with Walker Duehr putting on a really strong performance. Can somebody step up in what could be yet another tight home game for the locals? While strong outings from checkers like Duehr are great, the Flames will only go as far as their top two or three lines will take them. They need their stars to be stars, and their power play to be powerful, against the Kings if they want to maintain their playoff aspirations.
In unrelated news: it’s the Pride game, with a really cool-looking warm-up jersey being worn and then auctioned off for charity.
The Kings
Projected lines courtesy Daily Faceoff:
Byfield – Kopitar – Kempe
Fiala – Danault – Arvidsson
Iafallo – Lizotte – Moore
Grundstrom – Kupari – Kaliyev
Fiala – Danault – Arvidsson
Iafallo – Lizotte – Moore
Grundstrom – Kupari – Kaliyev
Anderson – Doughty
Gavrikov – Roy
Durzi – Edler
Gavrikov – Roy
Durzi – Edler
The Kings have been alternating goalies all month, so we would expect to see Joonas Korpisalo in net, backed up by Pheonix Copley. Their projected extras are Sean Walker, Zack MacEwen and Jaret Anderson-Dolan. Blake Lizotte is expected to return from his one-game suspension, and with the Kings carrying a bunch of extra bodies right now, they might keep rotating players around to keep everybody fresh heading into their likely post-season appearance. (Update: Gabriel Vilardi is day-to-day and stayed in California.)
The Kings haven’t lost in regulation since Feb. 26 against the New York Rangers, and they’re on a 12-game point streak since then. They’re well-structured, well-coached, and they gave the Flames an absolute thrashing (8-2) in their last meeting. If you give the Kings any daylight, they can demolish your hockey club.
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Unavailable players
The Flames are without Oliver Kylington, Michael Stone and Chris Tanev.
The Kings are healthy.
The playoff race
The Flames enter Tuesday’s games chasing a few teams:
- They’re one point ahead of Nashville (for ninth place), but Nashville has two games in hand.
- They’re four points behind Winnipeg (for the final wild-card spot).
- They’re seven points behind Seattle (for the first wild-card spot), but Seattle has one game in hand.
To reach 95 points (and have a reasonable chance at a playoff spot), the Flames need 14 points over the final 8 games – that’s an .875 pace in their remaining games. The Flames’ elimination number is 6.5. Any combination of Flames losses or Winnipeg wins totalling 6.5 eliminates Calgary from playoff contention.
If the season ended today, by virtue of points percentage, the Flames would be drafting 14th overall (before the lottery).
The numbers
| Flames | Kings | |
| 33 | Wins | 43 |
| 81 (.547) | Points (%) | 96 (.658) |
| 55.1 | xGF% | 53.5 |
| 20.3 | PP% | 25.7 |
| 81.9 | PK% | 75.4 |
Head to head
This is the fourth and final regular season meeting between these clubs this season. The Flames have a regulation win, a regulation loss and an overtime loss against the Kings this season.
Social life
Here are your recommended follows from Kings Twitter:
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