Calgary Flames Daily: Post-Game Win, In the Playoffs!
By Ramina Shlah
Happy Saturday everyone! The Calgary Flames finally have an X beside their name after battling it out these last few weeks.
No, this isn’t an April Fools joke. The Calgary Flames have officially clinched a playoff spot with their win over the San Jose Sharks last night. After somewhat of a rough start and not getting into a playoff spot until December, we all woke up this morning to see an X beside the Calgary Flames.
The Flames sit in the first wildcard spot, but sit just one point back of the Sharks for that third Pacific Division spot. They face the Anaheim Ducks two more times and the Sharks one more time in their last four games of the season.
Some huge games that are basically four-point games to help them earn home-ice advantage which is really what they’ll be aiming for these last four games.
And what is a post-game-clinching-playoff-spot win without some post-game comments?
Calgary Flames
Via Calgaryflames.com:
"“I said to the guys, and I meant it,” said coach Glen Gulutzan, looking very much the satisfied gentleman. “Those guys, they pushed. I’ve never been as proud of a group, from the adversity were had at the start, just sticking with it, in my 17 years, 18 years of coaching.“This is just a fantastic group of guys.”“Very proud of what they accomplished.”“We’ll enjoy this,” said captain Mark Giordano. “We’ve had a lot of ups and downs this year but we found a lot of resilience through the latter half of the year.“There’s excitement. A little bit of relief, too, to get it over with. You don’t want to go into the last couple having to do it.“But there are a lot of four-point games coming up so sharpen our game a bit because we have a chance to move up.”"
For more post-game fun, go here.
In honour of the Flames clinching, here are some of our articles talking about different potential playoff scenarios
Potential Playoff Scenario: Facing the Minnesota Wild.
"Although is highly unlikely now and quite unlikely that the Flames will be playing anybody in the Central division, we can never say never. Here is how a playoff scenario between the Calgary Flames and the Minnesota Wild would look like."
Potential Playoff Scenario: Facing the San Jose Sharks.
"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."
Potential Playoff Scenario: Facing the Anaheim Ducks.
"If the Flames can manage to win their next four point games, they have a high chance of facing the Anaheim Ducks in the first round. Let’s just hope they can break the Honda Center curse before the playoffs start."
Battle of Alberta on the Horizon in Mid-April?
"With their opponent and seeding still to be decided, we will take a look at a realistic, potential first round matchup for the Flames, their biggest rival, the Edmonton Oilers."
Some links around the internet surrounding the Flames to get you through your Saturday
Calgary Flames will move without a new arena, says Ken King (CBC News).
Calgary Flames clinch playoff spot with win over San Jose Sharks (Global News).
5 Flames prospects on the rise (The Hockey Writers).
Clinched! (Calgary Flames).
Brian Elliott vital to Flames reaching post-season (NHL.com).
Some other links surrounding hockey and the NHL
Best pranks pulled by NHL players (NHL.com).
Mike Vecchione, Hobey Baker finalist, picks Flyers (NHL.com).
NHL-Highlights of Friday’s NHL games (Yahoo Sports).
TSN Hockey’s top 10 storylines of the week (TSN).
Next: Throwback Thursday: Gaudreau's first hat-trick
That’s all in this edition of Flames Daily! I keep looking back to that X beside the team’s name.