Playoff implications galore as Flames host Coyotes
With major playoff implications on the line, the Arizona Coyotes visit the Calgary Flames on Friday in the fourth matchup of the season between the two Pacific Division rivals.
The Flames sit in third place in the Pacific and are three points above the wild-card cutoff line, but five other Western Conference teams (including the Coyotes) are within five points of Calgary. Calgary has 77 points to Arizona's 74, though a victory on Friday could elevate the Coyotes into a wild-card slot.
The Coyotes are 3-1-0 over their last four games, including a 4-2 road victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday. Trailing 2-1 midway through the third period, Arizona scored three unanswered goals to get an important win over another division opponent.
"We're a desperate group and we're playing some desperate hockey right now," Arizona forward Lawson Crouse told NHL.com after scoring the tiebreaking goal Wednesday. "We held our composure and we started pouring it on their defense and hanging in, staying in piles and that was a key to it. We just got pucks to the net, and stayed around the net and they went in for us."
Wednesday's result was only the Coyotes' second win (2-9-1) over their last 12 road games.
On the flip side, Calgary is hoping its most recent victory ends a slump on home ice. The Flames are 2-5-1 at home since the All-Star break, but they pulled out a 3-2 comeback win over the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets in overtime on Wednesday. The Flames scored twice in the final nine minutes of play to force overtime, and T.J. Brodie then collected the winner with 11 seconds left on the clock in overtime.
Though the Flames are 4-1-1 over their last six outings, five of those games were played away from home. Given that the Flames play 10 of their 14 remaining games in Calgary, "it's important for us to come and take care of business here at home," forward Matthew Tkachuk said.
"We've been struggling here at home for a bit, so it's nice to get that win," he added. "... It's important to get that first win (at home) to come back after a tough road trip where we got some wins."
The Flames won two of the three meetings against Arizona this season, including a 4-3 overtime win in Calgary on Nov. 5. The Coyotes' lone win was a 3-0 shutout on Nov. 16, with Darcy Kuemper stopping all 37 shots he faced.
Playing in his second game after a two-month injury layoff, Kuemper stopped 36 of 38 Canucks shots on Wednesday. If the Coyotes want to keep easing Kuemper back into the lineup, they have another hot goaltending option in Antti Raanta, who is 4-1-0 with a .953 save percentage over his last five starts.
Calgary also has a choice to make in net, as the Flames have won consecutive games with Cam Talbot as the starting goalie. The Flames could opt to start Talbot again on Friday over David Rittich, who has only an .886 save percentage over his last six outings.
Flames forward Mikael Backlund has 20 points (nine goals, 11 assists) in his past 14 games.
--Field Level Media
