The 2017 Playoff Chase: back from the bye
By Ryan Pike
7 years agoWelcome to the sixth week of our Western Conference playoff race coverage. The Calgary Flames have completed their five day bye period and are back for their stretch drive. Despite their idleness, the standings didn’t change a heck of a lot around them.
Let’s check out the race as we begin the weekend!
WHERE THEY STAND
| Team | GP | W | Pts | Pct | ROW | Div | Chances | % Change |
| Wild | 57 | 38 | 82 | .719 | 35 | CEN | 100% | none |
| Blackhawks | 57 | 35 | 75 | .658 | 33 | CEN | 100% | none |
| Sharks | 58 | 34 | 74 | .638 | 32 | PAC | 99.9% | none |
| Oilers | 58 | 31 | 70 | .603 | 27 | PAC | 99.5% | up 0.7% |
| Ducks | 58 | 30 | 70 | .603 | 28 | PAC | 98.6% | up 1.2% |
| Blues | 58 | 31 | 67 | .578 | 30 | CEN | 97.0% | up 13.2% |
| Predators | 56 | 27 | 62 | .554 | 25 | CEN | 79.9% | up 0.2% |
| Flames | 58 | 29 | 61 | .526 | 26 | PAC | 37.8% | down 4.1% |
| Kings | 56 | 28 | 60 | .536 | 27 | PAC | 79.9% | down 3.1% |
| Jets | 60 | 26 | 57 | .475 | 24 | CEN | 3.8% | down 3.8% |
| Canucks | 58 | 25 | 56 | .483 | 21 | PAC | 2.6% | down 2.7% |
| Stars | 59 | 22 | 54 | .458 | 22 | CEN | 0.9% | down 1.8% |
| Coyotes | 55 | 19 | 45 | .409 | 14 | PAC | 0.0% | none |
| Avalanche | 55 | 15 | 32 | .291 | 15 | PAC | 0.0% | none |
The Flames head into the weekend eighth in points and ninth in points percentage in the Western Conference.
The Blues have been on a great run since their coaching change. Barring anything going nuts in the Gateway City, only the wildcard spots are in question. Two of Calgary, Nashville and Los Angeles will make the playoffs. Minnesota, Chicago, San Jose, Edmonton, Anaheim and now St. Louis seem to have cemented themselves in the post-season picture.
If the playoffs began today, the Flames would be playing Minnesota (judging by points) or golfing (judging by points percentage).
THIS PAST WEEK
The Flames split their two games this week. They lost 5-0 to Arizona on Monday, but bounced back with a 3-1 victory over Philadelphia on Wednesday. (They weren’t great in either game, to be honest.)
THIS COMING WEEK
The Flames have three road games between now and next Friday. They’re in Vancouver on Saturday night, then play in Nashville on Tuesday and in Tampa Bay on Thursday.
As for the teams the Flames are chasing?
- St. Louis (games played even, six points up) plays twice against Buffalo and Florida.
- Nashville (two games in hand, one point up) plays four games against Minnesota, Columbus, Calgary and Colorado.
- Los Angeles (two games in hand, one point back) plays four games against Florida, Anaheim, Colorado and Boston.
The good news is by next Friday, Nashville and Los Angeles will be a lot closer to burning off their games in hand. The better news is that the Flames have a golden chance to catch up to Nashville when they play on Tuesday.
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