If the title wasn’t enough to excite you, perhaps knowing that the Calgary Flames (as things stand) currently have an 85.5% chance of making the playoffs compared to a 21.6% chance held by the Kings.
Tonight will be the biggest game of the year for the Calgary Flames and their respective fans, and frankly it would seem a ton of other hockey fans who have jumped aboard the C of Red wagon! Whatever reason fans from non-playoff or current playoff teams have for cheering on the Flames is not relevant; it’s simply nice to see support from across the league!
Calgary will have the chance to secure themselves a playoff spot by earning two points over the LA Kings; a feat they have not managed since 2009. For someone who has been writing about the team for years now, I have to say that it is not only exciting to watch them challenge for the playoffs the way that they have, but it’s been even more exciting watching them battle through adversity after adversity and really stick it to those who said “this group is nothing but a bottom five team….
"Coach said that many teams wrote us off at the beginning of the season," Gaudreau said. "We wanted to make sure in our locker room that we knew ourselves that we could be a playoff team. We're just trying to prove it throughout the whole season."
And while fans and writers have been pleasantly surprised and excited, the team and coaching staff have also been enjoying themselves which is always nice to see. But don’t let some excitement trick you into thinking that this group isn’t ready to battle; because they are.
"We've been trying to take care of business leading up to this game," Flames defenceman Dennis Wideman said.
"We knew just the way everyone seems to be winning, we knew it would come down to this game as long as we won ours. And we have been. So here we go."
And while we are seeing some positive or confident talk coming out of the Flames dressing room, it would seem that the Kings sound a little more desperate or down on their luck given that the Cup champs can’t seem to find their mojo.
''We have to win," Sutter said. "We've been saying that for a while.''
''We just have to win our next game and go from there,'' Gaborik said. ''We are obviously disappointed to be in this position, but we have to go to Calgary and win. That's all there is to it.''
And while playing a team who are down on their luck seems like the perfect adversity for another looking to secure a playoff spot, the Kings are still a very strong team and shouldn’t be considered out for the count at any point in time throughout their game.
To make sure that the Flames knock the Kings out of contention and earn their own spot, they will need to win in regulation as an overtime or shootout win would allow the Kings to challenge for the final wildcard spot, depending of course on how the Jets fair over their next games.
Jonas Hiller is expected to get the start against Jon Quick and there aren’t any expected changes to the lineup. There has been a lot of chatter regarding Sam Bennett, but I wouldn’t expect to see him until (maybe) Saturday night when the Flames take to the ice against the Jets – depending on how tonight goes, of course.
Enjoy the game!!