The race for the final wild card could come down to the final day.
Each of the four teams fighting for the final spot was in action on Thursday, with every team picking up at least a point. The four teams we’ll be looking at in this article are the Calgary Flames, Vancouver Canucks, St. Louis Blues, and Utah Hockey Club.
This is the wild card recap, where we look at how the three other teams battling the Flames fared for the final wild card the night before. The wild card recap will replace What’s Going On In The Pacific Division, at least until next season. This article will come after the busy days in the league, so on Sunday, Wednesday, and Friday.
Let’s take a look at what happened on Thursday evening!

The Flames mounted a third period comeback to defeat the Devils

Whether you’re on team tank or team “let’s make the playoffs and see what happens”, one thing is certain about the 2024-25 Flames: They are incredibly exciting.
The Devils jumped out to a 1-0 lead late in the first period and doubled their lead five minutes into the second period. Midway through the second, Matt Coronato was the recipient of a friendly bounce to cut the lead in half but Paul Cotter scored a dagger with just 28 seconds left in the middle frame.
Any other team would’ve been disheartened, but not the Flames. With just over 13 minutes left in regulation, Connor Zary got on the board to make it a 3-2 game. And with 4:20 left in the game, Daniil Miromanov snuck in from the blue line and ripped it past Jacob Markström to tie the game.
They weren’t done there though, as Jonathan Huberdeau scored a minute later to take the lead followed by an empty net goal from Nazem Kadri to ice the game. Thanks to the win, the Flames returned to a playoff spot, but it wasn’t going to last long as the Blues and Canucks played one another on Thursday.
With that being said, the Flames continue their road trip on Saturday, as they head to Long Island to face the New York Islanders at 2:00 p.m. MT. It’s a must-win game, as are the other remaining 13 games.

The Canucks and Blues go to overtime

The second worst outcome happened in this game. There was no way the Flames could’ve finished Thursday in a post-season spot as the Vancouver Canucks and St. Louis Blues faced off last night.
With just over four minutes left in the second period, Zack Bolduc scored for the Blues to put them up 1-0. However, Kiefer Sherwood and Brock Boeser each scored in the third period for the Canucks to take the lead. The see-saw game continued though, as Tyler Tucker and Dylan Holloway scored 34 seconds apart to take the lead.
And then, the second worst-case scenario happened. With just five seconds left, Boeser came in down the wing and ripped it past the Blues’ netminder to tie the game. The Flames were just 2.7 seconds away from getting the best-case scenario of this game.
With that being said, they avoided the absolute worst-case scenario, as Philip Broberg scored 3:42 in overtime for the Blues.
On Saturday, the Canucks continue their road trip, taking on the New York Rangers in what will be the first time J.T. Miller faces his old team. That game starts at 11:00 AM MT. The Blues have an afternoon game, hosting the Chicago Blackhawks at 1:00 PM MT.

The Hockey Club benefited from a Sabres own-goal to win 5-2

Lastly, the Utah Hockey Club was in action against the Buffalo Sabres, defeating the perennial bad team 5-2.
Logan Cooley scored with just over two minutes left in the first period but J.J. Perterka scored with just 11 seconds left in the opening frame to send the teams into the first intermission tied 1-1-. The Hockey Club broke the deadlock midway through the second period, but the Sabres tied it up thanks to Ryan McLeod’s short-handed goal early in the third period.
With just over five minutes left in the game, Dylan Guenther scored to take the 3-2 lead and then chaos ensued. With a minute and ten seconds left in the game, the Sabres had their net pulled and the Hockey Club had a delayed penalty. A wayward pass from Tage Thompson went into the Sabres’ open net to end their comeback bid. With 19 seconds left, Mikhail Sergachev iced the game with a second empty net goal.
The Hockey Club has a pretty tough game on Saturday, as they host the streaking Tampa Bay Lightning who have won their last three games.

How the standings look

Let’s take a look at how the standings look as of Friday evening.
The St. Louis Blues occupy the final wild card spot thanks to a 35-28-7 record with 77 points. They have played one more game than the Vancouver Canucks, who have a 32-25-12 record with 76 points.
There’s some good news for Calgary Flames fans, as they have a 32-25-11 record with 75 points. That’s two points back of the Blues and one back of the Canucks, but they’ve played two fewer games than the Blues and one fewer game than the Canucks.
Looking at the tiebreaker, the Flames also have more regulation wins (26) than the Blues and Canucks (25), which is the first tiebreaker after all 82 games are done.
As for the Hockey Club, they aren’t too far out of the race, as they have a 31-27-11 record with 73 points. They’ve played 69 games this season and have 23 regulation wins.
Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for FlamesNation, Oilersnation, and Blue Jays Nation. They can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.
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