Flames at Oilers
The Calgary Flames gave up on challenging for a playoff spot when they traded away captain Jarome Iginla earlier this month. Helping to keep the Edmonton Oilers, who host the Flames on Saturday, out of the postseason will have to be enough motivation for now. The Oilers looked like a team on the rise with a five-game winning streak bridging March and April but have lost their offense in four straight setbacks.
Two of the victories during that five-game winning streak came during a home-and-home set with the Flames on April 1 and 3, when Edmonton buried its provincial rival by a combined 12-3 score. Calgary has been better of late and took its role as spoiler seriously with a 3-2 overtime win over the Phoenix Coyotes on Friday. The Flames have a chance to do some real damage to the Western Conference picture with each of their remaining eight games coming against teams within at least seven points of the No. 8 spot.
TV: 10 p.m. ET, CBC
ABOUT THE FLAMES (15-21-4): Calgary snapped a 13-game road winless streak with a 3-1 victory at Colorado on Monday and turned in another strong outing on Friday, when defenseman Mark Giordano scored the game-winner 4:36 into overtime against Phoenix. The Flames are in a battle of their own amongst the teams at the bottom of the league for the No. 1 overall draft pick but did not appear to have any intention of wasting away the rest of the season when they jumped out to a 2-1 lead on the Coyotes and held them off in the extra session. Calgary is tied with the Carolina Hurricanes, two points ahead of both the Florida Panthers and Colorado Avalanche for the lowest total in the NHL.
ABOUT THE OILERS (16-17-7): Edmonton is usually leading that race for the No. 1 pick at this time of the season, but years of top draft picks finally began to come together during that winning streak, when the Oilers put up 25 goals in five games. The 8-2 rout of the Flames on April 3 moved Edmonton briefly into the top eight in the West, but they have been outscored 13-3 in four straight losses since. The Oilers’ latest top overall pick, rookie right wing Nail Yakupov, has been one of the few consistent offensive performers with a point in each of the last three games. Yakupov had the lone goal in Edmonton’s 3-1 home loss to Phoenix on Wednesday. “We all know there are no more points to give anymore,” coach Ralph Krueger said after the loss. “We aren’t going to give up on this.” Edmonton is six points behind eighth-place Detroit,
OVERTIME
1. Flames LW Alex Tanguay (knee) left Friday’s game and is questionable for Saturday.
2. Oilers leading scorer Taylor Hall has been held without a point in four straight games. He had seven (two goals) in the back-to-back wins over Calgary earlier this month.
3. Edmonton will play six of its final eight games at home.