What’s at stake for the Calgary Flames on the final night of the regular season
By Ryan Pike
1 year agoIt’s the final day of the regular season! (Well, for everybody but Seattle and Winnipeg…)
The Calgary Flames face the Winnipeg Jets tonight in their 82nd and final regular season game. They’ll begin the Stanley Cup playoffs next week, potentially on Tuesday. So what’s at stake for the local sports team in their final evening of regular season play?
Second in the Western Conference
The Flames are vying with St. Louis and Minnesota for second place in the Western Conference. If the Flames finish second in the West, they would have home ice against any non-Colorado team in the Western Conference side of the bracket. (Playoffs are chaos, so it makes sense to prepare for possibilities, however unlikely, that Minnesota or St. Louis or the wildcard team topple Colorado.)
The Flames, at 111 points, are tied with Minnesota. St. Louis has 109 points. All three teams play on Friday night.
- The Flames hold the tiebreaker on Minnesota, so if they finish tied in points, the Flames win the tie.
- The Flames don’t hold the tiebreaker on St. Louis, so if they finish tied in points, the Blues win… unless the Blues win in overtime or a shootout, in which case the Flames would finish ahead.
Long story short: if the Flames beat Winnipeg, they finish second in the West no matter what anybody else does. If they don’t, things get a bit messy and complicated.
First round opponent
Who will the Flames play in the first round? Why, the first wildcard team, of course! Which team will that be? We’ll find out tonight!
- If Nashville gains a point against Arizona, they will finish in the first wildcard and play Calgary.
- If Dallas beats Anaheim and Nashville loses to Arizona in regulation, they will finish in the first wildcard and play Calgary.
In other words: be prepared to do some scoreboard watching tonight, friends. Calgary plays Winnipeg at 6 p.m. MT. Dallas plays Anaheim at 6:30 p.m. MT Nashville plays Arizona at 8:30 p.m. MT. It could be quite late before we have a clear picture of the Flames’ first round opposition.
THIS ARTICLE BROUGHT TO YOU BY DAILYFACEOFF
Looking to up your fantasy hockey game? DailyFaceoff has the tools you need for both daily and season-long fantasy leagues, including a lineup optimizer, daily projections, and a whole lot more. Sign up for the DailyFaceoff tools here.
More from FlamesNation
Recent articles from Ryan Pike
