Calgary Flames Potential Playoff Scenario: Facing the San Jose Sharks
By Ramina Shlah
The Calgary Flames are no longer just trying to stay in the running, they’re now chasing the guys ahead of them. Let’s take a look at a potential playoff scenario for this team.
The Calgary Flames right now are in the first wild-card spot. But they sure are close to the two teams right ahead of them. The Flames have 78 points in 67 games. The Edmonton Oilers, one spot ahead of them in the third Pacific division spot, have 78 points in 66 games, and the Anaheim Ducks in the second Pacific Division spot have 80 points in 67 games.
Really it could come down to the last couple of games for who will be playing who and who will get home-ice advantage.
But as it stands right now, if the playoffs were to happen tomorrow, the Flames would be playing the San Jose Sharks. Well, I mean, that’s if the Flames don’t win tonight against the Winnipeg Jets. Alright, as of right this second, the Flames and Sharks would meet each other in the playoffs.
If you’re not aware how the playoffs work, I explained it in about two sentences in this article here where I talk about a potential playoff scenario facing the Minnesota Wild.
That was written on February 11th, so exactly a month ago today. I said that the Flames will most likely play the Wild if they even end up making it to the playoffs. Well, that was before the Flames decided to go on an eight-game win-streak and make me look dumb.
Actually, since February 11th when I published that article, the Flames have the second most amount of points in the league, but they’ve played three games less than the Ottawa Senators, who lead the league in that time frame. The Flames since then are 9-1-1, which is the best record in the league in that time frame.
Moving on.
Most probable playoff scenario?
A month ago, I said that the most probably playoff scenario for the Calgary Flames would be facing the Minnesota Wild. And at that time, the Flames were barely scraping by. Actually at that time, they were ninth in the Western conference, meaning they weren’t in the playoffs.
Well since then, they’re no longer just trying to stay in the running anymore. They’re now chasing the top dogs. They’re basically battling it out with the Anaheim Ducks and the Edmonton Oilers for a second or third spot in the Pacific Division. But like I said, as it stands right now, they’d be playing the San Jose Sharks.
Now, is the most probably playoff scenario for the Flames facing the Sharks? I can’t say for sure.
Last time when I said the most probable scenario, I looked dumb. Thanks for going on an eight-game win streak and making me look dumb and making me eat my words, Flames. But truly, thank you.
The Flames and the Sharks have played each other three times already this season. The Flames against the Sharks are 2-1-0 this season. Let’s take a look at each individual game and see how it turned out.
Game #1: November 3rd, 2016
In the first game this season between the two clubs, the Calgary Flames won 3-2. The Flames were up 2-0 heading into the third period. But then the Flames got a little too confident and the Sharks tied it up halfway through the third.
Well then, maybe the Sharks were the ones who got a little too confident because Matthew Tkachuk managed to make it 3-2 with less than five minutes left of the game. Thanks rookie. This was also his first multi-goal game of his career and the tenth game of his NHL career, when he got the go-ahead that he would be staying up with the Flames. Actually a similar situation happened in game #3 of their series, but we’ll get into that later.
Related Story: Talk About a Tenth Game for Matthew Tkachuk
And as it stands right now, the Flames have the second best win % when leading after two periods in the entire NHL, being at 0.964. So hey, I guess they’re quite good at keeping their leads.
Let’s also keep in mind that at this point in November, the Flames were doing quite bad. They were 4-6-1, with just nine points in 11 games. This was also their only win within a span of seven games. Definitely not the start to their season they were hoping for, but hey! Looks like they turned that around.
The Flames went 0/2 on the PP that night while the Sharks went 1/5. Again, let’s keep in mind that this is when the Flames special teams were, and for lack of better terms, horrible. So I mean, going 0/2 on the PP and being 80% on the PK isn’t all that bad in retrospect.
The Flames are much better on their special teams. I mean, it’s no December-January incredible, but it’s nothing to be crazily worried over. If you look at the overall stats of the game, the Sharks definitely had the upper-hand and you could tell they were definitely the better team. They had more shots, they were more disciplined, their special teams were better, and they won a majority of the faceoffs. But at the end of the day, what matters is who wins and the Flames, as we’ve seen, won that one.
Next.
Game #2: December 20th, 2016
This was the one loss that the Calgary Flames faced against the Sharks this season (*insert Jaws theme song*). They lost 4-1, but surprisingly, no goal came on the PP that night.
However, the Flames indiscipline continues to haunt them with them being down a man five times in the game. Just like the first meeting between the two. Again like in the first game, the Sharks completely had the upper-hand. However this time, it showed on the score-sheet. They completely dominated them in every period with their shots and only allowed the Flames 21 SOG while they had 34.
After the first period, the game was still scoreless, but something happened, and the Sharks scored four goals in the second period. Two of the goals had assists by Joe Pavelski, which I know made my dad mad. He hates Pavelski for reasons unknown to me until this day.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | T | |
| Sharks | 0 | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| Flames | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Moving on.
The Flames managed to score one early in the third period by Sam Bennett (thanks Benny). However, as you’re aware, the Sharks second period domination was too much for the Flames to come back from and thus was a loss.
The Flames also lost their powerplay goal streak in this loss, where they went eight-straight games recording at least one powerplay goal in each game.
Heading into that game, the Flames were seventh in the Western Conference while the Sharks were third. And the Sharks only had three points on the Flames, so this one really could have been a game-changer. But again, we all know how this story ends, and the Flames would lose this one.
Next.
Game #3: January 11th, 2017
This game was fairly similar to the first game. However this time, it was tied heading into third period, but this time, Dougie Hamilton was the hero. He scored with little time left in the third period again to make it 3-2.
The Sharks would end up opening up the scoring in this game. and made it 2-1 after the opening 20 minutes. Then second period would come and it would remain quite uneventful for most of the period. Until there was only 32 seconds left of the period and again, the rookie Matthew Tkachuk comes to the rescue and ties up the game at two a piece.
And we already know the end of this story, but Dougie would make it 3-2 with just 2:19 left in the game. This game looked a little better for the Flames and they were finally a serious playoff contending team.
They went 1/2 on the PP, however they also were 1/2 on the PK (oops). However, they finally had the edge in shots and faceoffs. And this time, the scoresheet proved it too.
Overall
Calgary Flames
Out of these three meetings, the special teams aren’t the best, but they’re also not horrible. In all three games, Tkachuk has points in all of them. How the goals and points look for the players:
- Matthew Tkachuk: 5 points (3 goals, 2 assists)
- Michael Frolik: 3 points (1 goal, 2 assists)
- Deryk Engelland: 3 points (3 assists)
- Dougie Hamilton: 2 points (1 goal, 1 assist)
- Sam Bennett: 2 points (1 goal, 1 assist)
- Troy Brouwer: 1 points (1 goal)
- Mikael Backlund: 1 point (1 assist)
- Mark Giordano: 1 point (1 assist)
- Dennis Wideman: 1 point (1 assist)
So what does this all mean? Since the Flames won two of three meetings against the Sharks so far this season, will they have the upper-hand? Nobody can really say for sure.
All I know is that the Flames have been one of the most hard-working teams in the NHL over this last month and if they do end up facing the Sharks and do end up making it out of the first round alive, they would definitely deserve it.
Next: Five Reasons the Flames Season has Turned Around
These two teams still play each other two more times this season and one is the last game of the regular season for both teams. So that will be a fun game. It may even come down to that game to see who the Flames will play.
And if the Sharks and Flames do play each other, we already know that Martin Jones is familiar with the ‘Dome since he used to play for the Calgary Hitmen. And Aaron Dell is from Calgary. So that’ll be a special moment for both goaltenders.