The 2018 Playoff Chase: A chaotic West
By Ryan Pike
6 years agoLadies and gentlemen, welcome to our continuing coverage of the 2018 Calgary Flames and their attempts to qualify for the postseason. This season has been tumultuous to say the least, but despite their best efforts – including employing Eddie Lack as an NHL goaltender – the Flames remain in playoff contention.
How close are they to actually making it? Let’s break it down, friends.
Where they stand
(Sorted by points percentage.)
| Team | GP | W | Pts | Pct. | ROW | Div | Chances | % Change |
| Golden Knights | 54 | 36 | 74 | .704 | 34 | PAC | 100% | n/a |
| Predators | 53 | 32 | 73 | .689 | 28 | CEN | 99.6% | n/a |
| Jets | 55 | 32 | 73 | .664 | 30 | CEN | 98.2% | n/a |
| Stars | 56 | 33 | 70 | .625 | 29 | CEN | 88.3% | n/a |
| Blues | 57 | 34 | 71 | .623 | 31 | CEN | 82.9% | n/a |
| Kings | 54 | 30 | 65 | .602 | 28 | PAC | 87.8% | n/a |
| Wild | 54 | 29 | 64 | .593 | 26 | CEN | 46.0% | n/a |
| Sharks | 54 | 28 | 64 | .593 | 25 | PAC | 61.5% | n/a |
| Avalanche | 53 | 29 | 62 | .585 | 28 | CEN | 53.3% | n/a |
| Flames | 55 | 28 | 64 | .582 | 26 | PAC | 44.8% | n/a |
| Ducks | 56 | 27 | 64 | .571 | 24 | PAC | 33.1% | n/a |
| Blackhawks | 54 | 24 | 56 | .519 | 24 | CEN | 4.3% | n/a |
| Oilers | 53 | 23 | 50 | .472 | 21 | PAC | 0.2% | n/a |
| Canucks | 55 | 21 | 48 | .436 | 21 | PAC | 0.0% | n/a |
| Coyotes | 54 | 12 | 35 | .324 | 12 | PAC | 0.0% | n/a |
Heading into the weekend, the Flames are on the outside looking in. In terms of points, they’re in a three-way tie with San Jose and Anaheim for the last Pacific spot at 64 points – the Sharks are in the spot by virtue of tiebreakers – and with Minnesota for the last wildcard spot at 64 points – again, they lose via tiebreakers.
In terms of points percentage, they’re a smidge behind the Sharks for the final Pacific spot and the Wild for the final wildcard spot – 0.011 each.
This past week
The Flames won three of four games this week. They beat Chicago twice and New Jersey once, but lost to the NY Rangers. The games were all one-goal games.
This coming week
Calgary will finish off their six-game road trip this week. They face the NY Islanders on Sunday, Boston on Tuesday and Nashville on Thursday. They’re back at home next Saturday when they host the Florida Panthers.
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