I said earlier that it would take 97 points for the Flames to make it. That means they need to beat Arizona, which just about everybody has of late, and they need to beat one of L.A. or Winnipeg. We've done well against both teams earlier in the year, but L.A. is in playoff mode now and much harder to beat. Winnipeg is the much easier team to beat, but it's a dreaded afternoon game where we've seen really strange performances from both sides previously, so it's incredibly hard to predict.
A lot of this boils down to the schedule remaining:
CGY: Tue vs. Arizona, Thu vs. L.A., Sat @ Winnipeg (afternoon game). I see Calgary going 1-1 for sure, but that game against Winnipeg will be the big one.
L.A.: Mon @ Vancouver, Tue @ Edmonton (back to back...but it's Edmonton), Thu @ Calgary, Sat vs. San Jose. The only team I see L.A. losing to is Vancouver, and likely going 3-1-0
Winnipeg: Mon @ Minnesota, Tue @ St. Louis, Thu @ Colorado, Sat vs. Calgary. It could be all over for Winnipeg by the time the game against Calgary rolls around. On the road in Minnesota and St. Louis on a back to back. If they come out with 1 point from those two games it will be huge. Colorado is tough to gauge, but I doubt they lose that one. Calgary might have a 2 point lead by the time they meet on Saturday, and the Flames own the tiebreakers, so the game wouldn't really mean anything at that point.
In short, I see Calgary going 2-1-0, L.A. going 3-1-0, and Winnipeg going 1-2-1 down the stretch.
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"You know, that's kinda why I came here, to show that I don't suck that much" ~ Devin Cooley, Professional Goaltender
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