Flames: 36-25-4, 76 points, 3rd in the Pacific, 8th in the East, 15th in NHL.
Senators: 29-23-11, 69 points, 6th in the Atlantic, 10th in the East, 20th in NHL.
What was a make or break road trip for the Flames' playoff aspirations could already be viewed as a "make". Coming into Sunday night's tilt with the red hot Ottawa Senators, the Flames wake up still sitting 3rd in the Pacific, despite almost no help on the Out-Of-Town scoreboard during the entire road trip. Perserverance is the name of the game for the Flames all year, and it's put them in a good position heading down the stretch. The Flames are on pace for 96 points and have arguably already played their toughest competition of the season. Of the remaining 17 games, the Flames play 10 teams who are out of the playoff picture, by far the most of the teams in the Western playoff hunt. One could argue those are trap games, as often the teams that are out of it play without pressure and give the playoff teams fits, but something tells me the Flames' work ethic is too strong to allow that to happen. Not to mention, after tonight, the Flames play 7 of the next 8 at home. There's an odd home/away back to back later this week, but other than that the Flames don't play in a back to back situation until the end of March. That's a stretch for the Flames to pad their place in the standings, hopefully making the last two games of the year (against L.A. and on the road against Winnipeg) inconsequential in terms of making the playoffs.
Stolen from AC who stole it from Darren Haynes via twitter:
Here are the teams the Flames get the rest March:
Dallas x 2
Colorado x 2
Toronto
Columbus
Philadelphia
Anaheim (in Calgary)
St. Louis
Minnesota
Nashville
4 Tougher games against 7 VERY winnable games. It should be an easy enough schedule to allow the Flames to make the playoffs, but if we need a few more easy points, there's games against Edmonton and Arizona in April too.
The good news is that the bulk of the offense has come from the top line of Gaudreau, Monahan, and Hudler. Why is that good news? For 2 reasons. 1) The Flames have been a team all year that has been scoring by committee, so what you're seeing right now is a lull for the secondary scorers which will likely pick up again at some point, and 2) We now have a very good top line which can score multiple times a game. It's been a long time since we've been able to say that. Hudler has 6 points in his last 3 games, Gaudreau has a decent 3 points in his last 3 as well, but the big catalyst has been Sean "clutch" Monahan, who has been held pointless just twice in the last 10 games, and has 7 goals and 12 points over that stretch. Consider that he might end up being our #2 center once Bennett has made the jump...drool worthy.
Not to be overlooked it he return to form for both goaltenders. Ramo didn't get much of a chance to play for the middle 3rd of the season, as injuries kept him out of the lineup, and both Hiller and Ortio made impressive runs in net. Ramo really found his game again this trip, and Hiller has looked good as well in limited action of late. I'm still not sure who would be the starter if the playoffs were to begin tomorrow, but it's a good problem to have. In the early part of the year before the Flames found a way to win consistently, the goaltending battle fueled their success. Now that the team looks more competent in all situations (especially penalty killing) the goaltending duel just solidifies their status as a playoff team.
So the brutal 7 game, 14 day road trip ends tonight in Ottawa. When this trip started, the Flames were probably looking at this game as an easier night after many, many tough nights in a row. Of course, the Sens would have to catch fire on the back of a hot goaltender in Andrew "the Hamburglar" Hammond. He was called up on an emergency basis as both Lehner and Anderson went down with injury, not because he was having a stellar year in the AHL. His stats down there are surprisingly poor: 7-13-2 record, 3.51 GAA, .898 Sv%. Somehow he's gone 7-0-1 in the first 8 games, with a 1.43 GAA and .954 Sv%. Those numbers are nowhere near his career average in any league he's played in, so it's possible that it's a hot streak, and the coach suspects as much as well. After allowing 2 goals against Buffalo that would generously be described as "questionable", Dave Cameron is on record saying that he might put the recently returned from injury Anderson back in net today against the Flames in order to get him back into game shape. Hammond has done a nice job in relief, but the likelihood of him maintaining his current level of play is pretty low.
Watch out for the Sens 2 sensational rookie scorers, Mark Stone and Mike Hoffman. They rank 4th and 5th in Senators scoring with 42 and 41 points, 15-20 points ahead of such veterans as Milan Michalek, Clarke MacArthur, and David Legwand. Of course Karlsson is still his offensive self with 50 points, leading the team in scoring, and both Turris and Ryan have put in respectable campaigns with 45 and 49 points.
Roster Notes: David Jones is still out with a leg injury after blocking a shot. Byron and Smid still do not have a timeline for return. No word on Poirier making his way into the lineup. For the Sens, Lehner is still out with a concussion, with no timetable for a return. The Sens are missing key veterans Chris Phillips, Clarke MacArthur, Chris Neil, and Jared Cowan. Both goaltenders are not confirmed.
Flames
Gaudreau-Monahan-Hudler
Bouma-Backlund-Colborne
Raymond-Shore-Jooris
Bollig-Stajan-Ferland
Russell-Wideman
Brodie-Engelland
Diaz-Schlemko
Ramo
Senators
Hoffman-Zibanejad-Ryan
Michalek-Turris-Stone
Lazar-Pageau-Condra
Puempel-Legwand-Chiasson
Methot-Karlsson
Wiercioch-Ceci
Borowiecki-Gryba
Hammond
p.s.-if you haven't done so, set your clock 1 hour forward.
Go Flames Go!!!