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The 2018 Playoff Chase: In the thick of it
alt
Photo credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
Ryan Pike
Feb 17, 2018, 10:00 ESTUpdated: Feb 17, 2018, 01:42 EST
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The Calgary Flames have 24 games remaining on their regular season docket and they find themselves in a familiar position: snug as a bug in the midst of a fevered playoff race. A couple of them, if you want to get technical. Here’s our weekly look into how the Flames are faring in their attempt to qualify for the postseason.

Where they stand

(Sorted by points percentage.)
Team
GP
W
Pts
Pct.
ROW
Div
Chances
% Change
Golden Knights
57
38
80
.702
36
PAC
100%
none
Predators
56
34
77
.688
29
CEN
99.8%
+0.2%
Jets
58
34
77
.664
32
CEN
99.4%
+1.2%
Stars
58
34
72
.621
30
CEN
85.7%
-2.6%
Sharks
58
31
70
.603
28
PAC
76.3%
+14.8%
Blues
60
34
72
.600
31
CEN
71.0%
-11.9%
Wild
57
31
68
.596
28
CEN
57.6%
+11.6%
Flames
58
30
68
.586
28
PAC
58.6%
+13.8%
Avalanche
57
31
66
.579
30
CEN
50.0%
-3.3%
Kings
57
30
65
.570
28
PAC
65.8%
-22.0%
Ducks
59
28
66
.568
25
PAC
35.6%
+2.5%
Blackhawks
58
24
56
.483
24
CEN
0.2%
-4.1%
Oilers
56
23
50
.446
21
PAC
0.0%
-0.2%
Canucks
58
22
50
.431
22
PAC
0.0%
none
Coyotes
58
16
42
.362
15
PAC
0.0%
none
(Chances courtesy Sports Club Stats.)
Let’s go from the top:
Vegas has first place in the Pacific locked down. In the Central Division, it’s a safe bet that Nashville, Winnipeg, Dallas and St. Louis will get in. (Well, barring big slides.) That eats up three divisional spots and one wild card spot.
Thus, the Flames are in a five-horse race with Minnesota, Colorado, San Jose, Los Angeles and Anaheim for one wild card spot and a simultaneous four-horse race with San Jose, Los Angeles and Anaheim for two divisional spots. Simply due to the numbers game, the divisional road is probably the easier path into the postseason.

This past week

The Flames won two of their three games this week. They beat the NY Islanders and Nashville, but lost to Boston. Their wins were close games, their loss wasn’t.

This coming week

The locals have four games this week: they host Florida tonight and Boston on Monday afternoon, then it’s back-to-backs on the road with Vegas on Wednesday and Arizona on Thursday.

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