Flames at Kings
The Calgary Flames could see a familiar face on the ice for the last time Thursday when they play the second contest of a three-game homestand against the Los Angeles Kings. Calgary has lost three of four since former Flames standout Jarome Iginla scored his 100th career game-winning goal in a 4-1 Kings' victory on March 29.
Iginla, whose 625 goals are tied with Joe Sakic for 15th on the NHL all-time list, has six tallies in 16 games with Los Angeles since being acquired at the trade deadline and 14 this season - with two goals and three assists coming against Calgary. The Flames perhaps are more interested in long-standing history as opposed to personal, as their tie-breaker advantage over Nashville for the first wild-card spot has them in line with a first-round series with Pacific Division-leading Anaheim. Calgary dropped both ends of a home-and-home series with the Ducks, with Tuesday's 3-1 loss serving to extend the NHL's longest streak of futility against one foe with a 25th consecutive regular-season loss in Anaheim. Mikael Backlund scored the Flames' lone goal in that contest and has a point in back-to-back games after being held off the scoresheet in each of his previous six outings.
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, SN360 (Calgary), FSN West (Los Angeles), NHL.TV
ABOUT THE FLAMES (44-32-4): Sean Monahan (club-best 27 goals) scored a goal and set up two others in Calgary's 5-2 win over Los Angeles on March 12 to ignite a run of 12 points (five goals, seven assists) in a seven-game stretch before being held off the scoresheet in the home-and-home series versus Anaheim. Linemate Johnny Gaudreau (team-leading 43 assists, 61 points) also collected a goal and two assists against the Kings in that encounter to begin an eight-game point streak that came to an end on Tuesday. Brian Elliott yielded four goals to Los Angeles on March 29 to begin a 1-3-0 stretch on the heels of winning 13 of his previous 14 outings.
ABOUT THE KINGS (38-34-7): Los Angeles has seen its sputtering 25th-ranked offense snake-bitten throughout much of the season before Nick Shore set a career high in assists (three) and points (four) in Tuesday's 6-4 win over Edmonton. The 24-year-old's performance matched the sum point total of his previous 19 games. "It's kind of weird. You get removed from the playoffs, and then you come out with a six-goal game the next day, so it would have been nice to have that a couple games ago," said fellow forward Tanner Pearson, who also scored for just his second goal and third point in the last 15 contests.
OVERTIME
1. Los Angeles C Trevor Lewis has two goals in his last four games both overall and against Calgary this season.
2. The Flames' 10th-ranked power play has come up empty in all 14 opportunities versus the Kings in 2016-17.
3. Los Angeles D Paul LaDue is riding a three-game assist streak.