As March winds down, the Calgary Flames (34-26-12, 80 points) are still alive in the Western Conference playoff hunt. But a couple recent losses and the inability of the St. Louis Blues to lose hockey games have put the Flames on the ropes. So Monday night’s game against the Colorado Avalanche (45-26-3, 93 points) has some added urgency and importance as the Flames try to reel the Blues in. It’s the start of the final 10 games of the 2024-25 regular season! Can the Flames find a way to keep playing after Game 82?

Today’s broadcast begins at 6:30 p.m. MT on Prime Video and Sportsnet 960 The Fan.

Projected lines via Daily Faceoff:

Yegor Sharangovich – Nazem Kadri – Martin Pospisil
Jonathan Huberdeau – Morgan Frost – Matt Coronato
Joel Farabee – Mikael Backlund – Blake Coleman
Ryan Lomberg – Kevin Rooney – Adam Klapka

Kevin Bahl – Rasmus Andersson
Joel Hanley – MacKenzie Weegar
Jake Bean – Brayden Pachal

We’re projecting Dan Vladar to start in net, backed up by Dustin Wolf. The projected extras look to be Daniil Miromanov and Dryden Hunt. Per Sportsnet’s Derek Wills, once again Rasmus Andersson didn’t take morning skate (nor did Martin Pospisil), but Andersson hasn’t participated in morning skate or practice this past week but he’s played every game, so it’s reasonable to presume Andersson (and Pospisil) will be playing this evening.

The Flames have played pretty well lately. Heck, they out-played Dallas and Edmonton in consecutive games, but found ways to lose in each outing. Their defensive details have been a bit too loose and spotty at key times of games. They’ve been generally, structurally good, but when they’ve made mistakes… they’ve been ending up costing them on the scoreboard. They need to be a little bit better defensively, and a little bit better at burying the many chances they’ve been generating lately.

Keep an eye on Nazem Kadri. He has points in the past six games – including three consecutive multi-point games – and has seven goals and three assists during his point streak. Kadri has been a big offensive catalyst for the Flames of late, and he’ll probably be energized playing against his former team.

The Flames begin Monday’s action seven points behind St. Louis for the final Western Conference playoff spot… with three games in hand. They need to continue grabbing points if they want any chance of catching the Blues.

Projected lines via Daily Faceoff:

Artturi Lehkonen – Nathan MacKinnon – Jonathan Drouin
Valeri Nichushkin – Brock Nelson – Martin Necas
Jimmy Vesey – Charlie Coyle – Ross Colton
Parker Kelly – Jack Drury – Logan O’Connor

Devon Toews – Cale Makar
Ryan Lindgren – Sam Malinski
Samuel Girard – Erik Johnson

We’re projecting Scott Wedgewood to start for the Avalanche, backed up by Mackenzie Blackwood. Their extra skaters are projected to be Miles Wood and Keaton Middleton.

The Avalanche lost to the Blues on Saturday – to the frustration of Flames fans hoping for a bit of help on the out-of-town scoreboard – but that snapped a four game winning streak for Colorado. Since their last meeting with the Flames back on Mar. 14, the Avalanche are 5-2-0. They’ve added a lot of new faces this season and they’re still gelling, but you can see why a lot of teams are nervous about facing them in the post-season. (Their third pairing has Samuel Girard!)

The Flames will need to be sharp, once again, to leave Ball Arena with two points.

The Flames are without Anthony Mantha, Justin Kirkland and Connor Zary.

The Avalanche are without Gabriel Landeskog, Tucker Poolman, Josh Manson and Joel Kiviranta.

This is the third and final game between Calgary and Colorado in 2024-25. The Avalanche have won each of the first two games by identical 4-2 scores.