Welcome to the Game Day Fire Drill, for this, Calgary’s 69th game of the season on March 15, 2010.

This is a make-or-break game for Calgary.

Win and regain eighth place with an eye toward overtaking Nashville for seventh. Lose and slip ever-closer to the scorching-hot Blues for 10th, and who-knows-what after that.

This is the fourth and final meeting between these two teams and Calgary has taken the last two 7-2 on aggregate, which is encouraging. But the thing is that what made the Flames so successful on that little winning streak of theirs was the absence of what cost them the game last night. Calgary played 240 straight minutes, more or less, which was a novel and exciting interesting approach to the sport, at least for this team.

Last night, not so much. The first 20 minutes consisted almost entirely of what makes a person a successful spectator: standing around, watching, not involving yourself in anything. The last two periods of that game were far more successful because the Flames, surely inspired by Staios, played the style that won them four straight games. The hole was too deep, but still, there were positives.

Obviously another good effort tonight would go a long way toward solidifying a playoff spot. So let’s try for that then.

 

The Calgary Flames (34-25-9 for 77 points. Ninth in the West, third in the Northwest) and the Detroit Red Wings (32-23-12 for 78 points. Eighth in the West, third in the Central).

7:30 p.m. Mountain time and 9:30 p.m. Eastern time. All other time zones should not really understand what they’re advertising.

Pengrowth Saddledome, Calgary, Alberta.

Calgary is 17-15-3 at home this year, and just beat Detroit last week. The Red Wings are 14-13-7 on the road, and have won six of their last eight games.

Tomas Holmstrom — Goaltender interference machine, hysterically overrated by Detroit fans, just like every other Red Wing that ever came through the organization.

Niklas Kronwall — Wonder which Flame he’s going to attempt to cripple tonight.

Chris Osgood — Sucks.

Because Staios will stop this skid before it starts! Enjoy the game and ride Steve Staios to victory in the comments section.