Colorado Avalanche and Calgary Flames meet in a must-win encounter – NHL Preview
The regressing Colorado Avalanche have come in a must-win situation and even a single defeat could eliminate them from the playoff contention.
The same is the case with the Calgary Flames, who also need to win the rest of the games in the regular season.
That being said, there are no guarantees for either of them to get a playoff berth even if they win their remaining games.
As these two sides prepare to face each other on Friday, March 30, 2012, at Scotiabank Saddledome, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, one of them might have to end its playoff hopes after the result.
Let’s have a look at both teams.
Avalanche
They are ranked at 10th spot in the Western Conference with 86 points after 79 games and are two points behind the eighth-ranked Los Angeles Kings.
Keeping their recent performance in mind, it could be speculated that Avalanche will not be able to reach the playoffs as they are currently on a four-game losing streak.
The defeats came against Phoenix Coyotes (3-2), Vancouver Canucks (3-2 in overtime), San Jose Sharks (5-1) and Canucks (1-0).
The Avalanche are still not losing hope though. Defenseman, Shane O'Brien, said:
"Anything can happen. Teams that have games in hand, they could still lose. We're going to fight to the bitter end until we're mathematically done. But this (loss) definitely stings a bit."
Flames
They are ranked at 11th spot in the Western Conference with 85 points after 78 games and are three points behind the Kings, who defeated Flames in their last game.
Out of the last seven games, Flames have lost six and are not in a very good form.
Against Kings, Flames failed to register even a single scoring move and conceded three goals to lose the game.
Flames’ forward, Lee Stempniak, commented on the team’s situation:
"We've failed to come up with wins at key times and all we can do is look ahead to the Colorado game. You have to cling to any glimmer of hope right now. We can control what we can control and try to pick up as many points as we can. Hopefully, we can get
some help from some other teams."
Predictions
Flames have a slight edge.
The sum of goals scored by both teams might be six or more.
If Avalanche wins, the winning margin will be less than two goals.
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