The Calgary Flames Clinch a Playoff Berth
The Calgary Flames have clinched a playoff berth in the 2021-22 Stanley Cup Playoffs after the Las Vegas Golden Knights lost in regulation on Saturday afternoon.
The NHL Public Relations announced prior to the Flames’ game against the Las Vegas Golden Knights on April 14th, that they were a mere point away from clinching a berth.
However, they lost that game and clinched their berth before they even started their next game against the Arizona Coyotes. Kudos go to the Edmonton Oilers for beating the Golden Knights, allowing the Flames to reach their magic number.
The Flames’ record is up to 46-20-9 and they sit at 101 points on the season after their insane 9-1 win against the Coyotes on April 16th. They only have seven games to go with their regular season completing after their game against the Winnipeg Jets on April 29th.
The Flames are the first to clinch a playoff berth in their division and hold a pretty comfortable spot at the top of the Pacific.
The Flames have clinched a playoff berth.
The Flames narrowly missed the playoffs last season and only made it past the qualifying round for the bubble playoff structure in the 2019-20 season. They fell in the first round to the Dallas Stars in six games.
Some of the largest changes between then and now are the acquisitions of key players such as Jacob Markstrom, Blake Coleman, Tyler Toffoli, and a large change behind the bench. Darryl Sutter joined the Flames late last season and was willing to come out of retirement if he really believed he had a playoff team to coach.
This season has provided one of the best opportunities for the Flames to do some damage in the postseason arguably since the 2018-19 postseason run. Johnny Gaudreau is playing some of the best hockey he is playing in his career by just hitting the 100-point marker on April 12th against the Seattle Kraken.
Alongside him are Elias Lindholm and Matthew Tkachuk, who have combined to be one of the best, if not the best, lines in the NHL, and Tkachuk is also closing in on the 100-point achievement.
The defensemen have also stepped up to close the hole Mark Giordano left in his expansion draft departure, and Jacob Markstrom has given the Flames some of the best goaltending performances since the Miikka Kiprusoff era. It is all coming together for this team and you can tell by their play and successes.
The elephant in the room is there are large contracts to sign this summer and this team could have a different appearance come next season. Some long-time guys could be nearing the end of their Flames tenure. They can’t let the opportunity they have this postseason pass them by.
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The Flames are among the talks of the being favorites for the Cup this year, and clinching brings them one step closer to reaching the ultimate goal of raising the Cup this year.