Just like the Bee Gees, the Calgary Flames are stayin’ alive in the wild card race.
The race is coming down to the wire, as the Flames have just two games remaining while the St. Louis Blues and Minnesota Wild each have one game left. There’s a chance that Tuesday could be the final day the Flames still have playoff hopes, which would mean the end of the wild card recap series.
Still, let’s take a look at what happened on Saturday and Sunday for the Flames, Blues, and Wild.

Flames have a big third period against the Sharks

As per usual, the Flames fell behind in a game, as former Flame Tyler Toffoli opened the scoring for the San Jose Sharks on Sunday evening. However, defenceman MacKenzie Weegar tied the game midway through the first, which was followed by Adam Klapka’s fifth goal of the season about five minutes later.
In the second period, Jan Rutta scored his third of the season to tie the game at two just under four and a half minutes into the second period. The score stood that way until the third period. Desperately needing a regulation win, Yegor Sharangovich scored 90 seconds into the third period, and after a massive save by Dustin Wolf, Matt Coronato scored the insurance goal midway through the final frame. Sharangovich scored his second of the game to ice the game.
The Flames have been playing their best hockey of the season as of late, as they are 4-1-2 in the month of April and 9-2-3 in their last 14 games. Next up is a game against the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday, a must-win game, preferably in regulation. Their other game is against the Los Angeles Kings, but Tuesday’s results will determine if the game matters.

Blues slipped and fell in the shootout

Early in the second period, Jaden Schwartz opened the scoring for the Seattle Kraken to give them a 1-0 lead over the St. Louis Blues. However, the teams traded goals in the third period, with Shane Wright scoring midway through the final frame to send the game into overtime. Eventually, the Kraken won in a shootout, giving the Blues a point in the end.
Would it have been nice had the Kraken won this one in regulation? Absolutely. Still, it helped out the Flames for Tuesday, which the Blues will return home to host the Utah Hockey Club at 6:00 p.m. MT. We’ll get to why the loss was important in the “how the standings look” section.

Wild overcome 2-0 deficit, win in overtime

I was at a party on Saturday and saw that both the St. Louis Blues and Minnesota Wild were down in their games by a score of 1-0 and 2-0, respectively. I turned to my friend and said, “This helps the Flames, but watch both teams blow the lead.”
The Vancouver Canucks proceeded to do just that. Marcus Pettersson scored for the Canucks early in the first period, before Jake DeBrusk scored his 27th of the season with just under seven minutes left in the second to give the Canucks a 2-0 lead heading into the third. However, Brock Faber scored just 22 seconds into the third period to cut the lead in half, before Marcus Foligno tied the game with six minutes and 46 seconds left in the third.
Mats Zuccarello scored in overtime to lift the Wild over the Canucks, a brutal result for the Flames.
Like the Blues, the Wild have one game remaining, hosting the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. MT. A point clinches them a postseason berth.

How the standings look

As of Monday afternoon, how do the standings look?
With a 44-30-7 record and 95 points, the Minnesota Wild hold on to the first wild card with 95 points. All they need in their final game is one point to clinch a postseason berth, as they have the regulation win tiebreaker over the Flames, who at most can finish with 96 points.
The St. Louis Blues have a different scenario. If they wish to clinch on Tuesday, they need to win in regulation. That’d get them to 96 points, the same total the Flames could get, but they’d have the second tiebreaker in regulation + overtime wins.
For the Calgary Flames, it’s pretty simple. The maximum number of points they can get is 96. They need the Wild to lose in regulation or the Blues to at worst win in overtime. If the Blues win in overtime, the Flames would have to win their remaining two games in regulation to get the first tiebreaker, regulation wins.
There’s no margin for error for the Flames, they have to win out their last two games.
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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