Qualified for the playoffs on Saturday afternoon after a loss to the Vegas Golden Knights, the Calgary Flames kept their foot on the accelerator in the evening, hoping to ensure the advantage of the ice.
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Darryl Sutter’s squad certainly watched the Edmonton Oilers shut out the Knights 3-0.
The victory allowed him to participate in the spring tournament, but it also reduced his lead over his Alberta rivals to just five points at the top of the Pacific Division.
If they couldn’t celebrate before jumping on the ice themselves, the Flames made sure to stay in tune by downgrading the Arizona Coyotes 9-1 in the evening. They wanted to send a message: they will be ready for the playoffs.
However, Sutter seemed to give little importance to the result of the day in the press conference. Instead, he emphasized the achievement of qualifying a few weeks after a difficult campaign in 2021.
The Flames were indeed ousted from the playoffs in an ephemeral North section bringing together Canadian teams last season.
“I don’t really care about the game; All I have to say is, with two weeks left in the season, we made the playoffs, the pilot kicked off according to the official National Hockey League (NHL) website. Our goal was to make the playoffs and have home-ice advantage, so that’s great.”
“Give a lot of credit to the players. It’s all that matters. There’s no one in this room who would have said that six months ago.”
thoroughly
However, it is not so far when the Flames were dominant. In 2018-19, they finished first in the Pacific Division with 107 points. There too, they had their ticket with a few games to play on the regular schedule.
Johnny Gaudreau remembers it too well; the management of the remaining meetings, at the time, left a bitter taste in his mouth.
“Thinking back to that 2018-19 year, we had guys resting for the playoffs and we kind of eased off, he recalled. We can’t do that this year. We have to keep improving with every game and try not to relax just because we’re in the playoffs.”
“It’s something that’s been on my mind since that year and I think a lot of the guys on our team this year have been part of that and we’ve learned from that.”
The Flames return to action on Monday when they visit the Chicago Blackhawks.