Calgary Flames Throwback Thursday: Clinching in 2015

Welcome to another edition of Calgary Flames Throwback Thursday! A fun segment every Thursday where we bring you back to some fun Flames memories. What do we have in store for you this Thursday? Keep on reading!

Welcome to another edition of Throwback Thursday! We’ll be doing this every Thursday for the duration of the off-season. What we’ll be doing is bringing you back to some fun Calgary Flames memories, whether that be 30 years ago, or maybe just last season.

Last time, we talked about Johnny Gaudreau’s first hat trick.

Today? Let’s talk about the Flames clinching a playoff spot in 2015. The Flames season may be over this year, but that doesn’t mean we can’t look back on two years ago when they were still in a playoff spot at this time. Now, this is a fun memory for multiple reasons which I’ll get into in a moment here. But basically, the Flames clinched a playoff spot on the second last game of the regular season against the defending Stanley Cup champs, the Los Angeles Kings.

So why is this a fun memory?

They made it to the post-season for the first time in six years

Like you read by the title, this was the first post-season appearance for the team in six years. They hadn’t made it since the 2008-2009 season. Actually, during their playoff run two years ago, they also made it to the second round. A feat they hadn’t done since 2004 – when they made it all the way to the finals.

But they lost because of a no-goal call which I can’t even get into or I’ll start crying. I mean, are you even a true Flames fan if you’re not still upset over 2004?

Anyways, this was also still supposed to be a rebuild season for the Calgary Flames. So nobody really had high hopes for them entering this season and they were seen as somewhat of the “Cinderella” team that season.

Being the underdogs is always fun.

Moving on. Let’s look at reason number two of why this is a fun memory.

They clinched a spot while simultaneously eliminating the Kings

Like I mentioned earlier, they clinched a playoff spot in the second last game of the regular season against the Los Angeles Kings. And like I mentioned, the Kings won the cup in 2014 and they were defending their title.

Now, in that second last game of the season, a win in any fashion for the Calgary Flames would secure them a spot in a post-season appearance. And the Kings needed to just go to overtime to still stay in the running.

Calgary Flames

It was also fun because everyone was rooting for the Flames for a lot of the season because it was known that they would basically be the reason if the Kings were eliminated. And it’d be fun if the Kings were eliminated since them and the Chicago Blackhawks had basically been exchanging cups for multiple years.

We’re tired of it, come on guys.

So the fact that the defending Stanley Cup Champs were eliminated by a team who hadn’t made playoffs in six years, it was a fun feeling.

They were known as the comeback kids

For the entire season, the Calgary Flames were known as the comeback kids, or the cardiac kids, as some people called them. Since they generally liked to make everyone stress and panic by being down 3-1 heading into the third period. But they were quite successful in their comebacks.

They had the most wins trailing after the first period that season with 13. They also had the third most wins when trailing after two periods with 10. Now, I know this doesn’t have anything to do with making the playoffs, but the reason they were able to comeback quite often was because they were underestimated a lot. And they were underestimated for most of the season.

So making the playoffs was a huge slap in the face to everyone who doubted them. I mean, not really because this kind of stuff happens all the time. But it was fun seeing the guys known for the late-game thrillers make the playoffs.

And they had a few comeback wins in the playoffs, too!

Johnny-Monny-Hudler line

This line was the Calgary Flames best line all season long. The Johnny Gaudreau, Sean Monahan, and Jiri Hudler line was on fire basically every single game and they got recognition from other teams. It was also Johnny Gaudreau’s rookie season in which he got 64 points in 80 games.

These three led the Flames in points and goals ever since they were made a line. It continues, to this season, to be Hudler’s career-best season so far. With 76 points in 78 games, he hasn’t even come close to that in any other season. His closest to that was 57 points in 2008-2009, when he played for the Detroit Red Wings (Fun fact: that’s the year they last won the cup). Just because we mentioned the other two, Monahan had 62 points in 81 games.

This line was fun to watch all season long and throughout the end of the first round of playoffs and through the second round.

And on the day they clinched a playoff spot, Hudler got the empty netter goal which basically signified that the Flames would be moving on to the post-season for the first time in six years. Monahan and Gaudreau were both on the ice for that goal as well and Johnny had this nice little hop after Hudler scored that empty netter goal that we just have to show.

Next: Why Johnny Gaudreau Deserves to Win Lady Byng

Well, that’s all in this edition of Throwback Thursday! This was a fun game and a fun season. Let’s hope next season has in store what 2015 had for the comeback kids.