After 82 games, the Calgary Flames (33-39-9, 75 points) will conclude their 2025-26 regular season with a home date against the Los Angeles Kings (35-26-20, 90 points). The Flames are headed to the draft lottery. The Kings are headed to the playoffs. The Flames have incentives to lose. The Kings have incentives to win. But hockey often surprises us, so we’ll see how the final 60 minutes (or so) of the season unfold.

Today’s broadcast begins at 7 p.m. MT on Sportsnet One and Sportsnet 960 The Fan.

Projected lines via Daily Faceoff:

Blake Coleman – Mikael Backlund – Joel Farabee
Matvei Gridin – Morgan Frost – Victor Olofsson
Rory Kerins – Connor Zary – Adam Klapka
Yegor Sharangovich – Ryan Strome – Aydar Suniev

Zayne Parekh – Zach Whitecloud
Olli Maatta – Hunter Brzustewicz
Abram Wiebe – Brayden Pachal

Per Sportsnet’s Pat Steinberg: Arsenii Sergeev was in the starter’s net at an optional morning skate, so we’re projecting him to start, with Dustin Wolf backing him up. The projected healthy extras for Calgary look like John Beecher, Ryan Lomberg, Tyson Gross and Martin Pospisil. Matt Coronato is back in after missing Tuesday’s game due to being banged up – we’re not sure who he’s bumping out, so we’ll check on that for you at warm-up. After taking a puck to the face on Tuesday, Zach Whitecloud looks to be playing (albeit with a protective bubble on).

The Flames enter the game two points behind the New York Rangers for 29th overall and they hold the tiebreaker (regulation wins). A loss of any kind locks the Flames into 30th overall and guarantees a top five draft selection for just the second time since the team moved to Alberta in 1980.

The Flames have played some damn fine hockey of late. They’re low on elite talent, sure, but they work hard, play smart, and generally have cemented themselves as a tough out on the NHL calendar.

Projected lines via Daily Faceoff:

Artemi Panarin – Anze Kopitar – Adrian Kempe
Trevor Moore – Quinton Byfield – Alex Laferriere
Joel Armia – Scott Laughton – Jared Wright
Mathieu Joseph – Samuel Helenius – Taylor Ward

Mikey Anderson – Drew Doughty
Joel Edmundson – Brandt Clarke
Brian Dumoulin – Cody Ceci

We’re projecting Anton Forsberg to start for the Kings, backed up by Darcy Kuemper. Their projected healthy extra is Jacob Moverare.

The Kings enter the evening one point behind Edmonton for second place in the Pacific Division and tied with Anaheim for third place in the Pacific Division – the Kings lose the tiebreaker to either team, so they need to surpass them in points to pass them in the standings. The Ducks are in Nashville (with a 6 p.m. MT start) and the Oilers are hosting Vancouver (with a 7 p.m. MT start), so we’ll see how meaningful this game is for the Kings as the evening wears on.

This will be the final regular season game for the great Anze Kopitar, who’s retiring at the end of the season.

The Flames are without Sam Honzek, Jake Bean, Jonathan Huberdeau, Joel Hanley, Kevin Bahl, Yan Kuznetsov and Matt Coronato.

The Kings are without Kevin Fiala, Andrei Kuzmenko, Jeff Malott and Alex Turcotte.

This is the fourth and final meeting between these teams this season. The Flames won two of the their three other meetings, though their Dec. 13 win was in overtime and their Mar. 24 win was in a shootout. They lost the other game on Feb. 28 in regulation.