Calgary Flames Will Do The Unthinkable Tonight

The Calgary Flames and Los Angeles Kings will take the Scotiabank Saddledome ice tonight at 9pm EST. At the start of the season if I told you one team was going to the playoffs and one was looking toward the future, you would get the teams wrong. Tonight, the Calgary Flames can slay the beast.

Some team would do it eventually. Maybe the Anaheim Ducks or the St. Louis Blues. Perhaps the San Jose Sharks would have earned some measure of revenge. One of the Western Conference powers would surely make the Kings pay for hanging around eighth place year after year.

It wasn’t supposed to be the Calgary Flames. Earlier this season in the middle of a losing streak they were referred to as a tire fire. Yet the Calgary Flames extended their head coach and stayed the course. What followed would break most teams.

Within three late February days the Calgary Flames placed center Matt Stajan, winger Mason Raymond and finally star defenseman and Norris Trophy candidate Mark Giordano on injured reserve. The trade deadline saw assistant captain Curtis Glencross traded away to the Washington Capitals. That many losses should bury a team.

Instead the Calgary Flames have pressed on, going 6-2-2 in their last ten games. Not only have they stayed in the hunt for the playoffs but, with a win tonight and a Vancouver loss to Arizona, have caught the Canucks for second place in the division. Would you have thought that a few short months ago?

Since March 1st the Calgary Flames are 11-4-3 and have moved from three points back of the Kings to two points ahead. John Gaudreau has been a revelation and Jiri Hudler continues to play at All-Star levels. The Calgary Flames have eleven players with ten goals or more.

Youth, depth and a fearless approach to the game have the Calgary Flames on the brink of the NHL playoffs. Time and again this team has come back from early deficits. One goal? Two goals? It doesn’t seem to matter. When you watch the Calgary Flames play you have a sense they are never out of a game. Their feet constantly move. They are fast, they battle for every puck, and they have earned the right to be where they are.

That right can become reality against the defending Stanley Cup champions. Even until last week it seemed the Kings would get in, catching the Flames or the Winnipeg Jets in the process. Neither has happened. Age and deep playoff runs may finally be catching up to the Kings.

The irony is the end of the Kings this season won’t come from a big, bruising Western Conference power. The last blow won’t be struck with physical play. Instead it will be speed, will and skill of the Calgary Flames. Expect the best out of both teams tonight. I believe this is the best game on Thursday’s NHL schedule.

Get ready to cheer, Calgary Flames fans. Tonight on your home ice you punch your Stanley Cup playoff ticket. Tonight in your 41st and last home game of the season you send your fans home with playoff dreams for the first time since 2009. Tonight, you knock out the champ.

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