Calgary Flames look to clinch playoff spot with win, overtime loss to Vegas
Posted Apr 14, 2022 12:32 pm.
The Calgary Flames could clinch their spot in the 2022 NHL Playoffs if they can manage to grab one point against the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday night.
“It’s obviously the first big step,” forward Blake Coleman explained. “It’s not really real until you actually clinch it, so it’s a good test for us tonight. It’s a really good team we’re playing.”
"It's the goal at the start of every season, making playoffs."
Tyler Toffoli and Blake Coleman on being a point away from officially clinching a playoff spot. pic.twitter.com/hO94R4wxtn
— Calgary Flames (@NHLFlames) April 14, 2022
With 99 points on the season, and sitting comfortably atop the Pacific Division, the postseason is all but secured for the Flames.
With nine games left on the schedule and 18 points still up for grabs, Calgary has a chance to record their second-best season in franchise history and surpass the 107 points they got in the 2018-19 season.
“That’s our regular-season goal — to be a playoff team,” head coach Darryl Sutter said after Thursday’s morning skate. “The closer you can get to it, the better it is. [Games] 81 and 82 aren’t part of the regular season. They are either getting ready or packing up.”
But, Flames fans know, finishing as the best team in a division or conference doesn’t secure you anything but a spot in the most gruelling playoffs in professional sports.
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In that exciting 2018-19 season, the team had nearly all hockey analysts and fans alike certain that Calgary was headed to the Stanley Cup Final and were favourites to possibly win it all.
Those dreams were crushed when the Colorado Avalanche bounced the Flames in the first round — taking the series 4-1. That year the unlikely St. Louis Blues raised the Cup, defeating the Boston Bruins.
If the 2022 post-season started today, the Flames would play the Nashville Predators.
