Flames try to snap slide, hit road to face Jets
WINNIPEG, Manitoba -- If you had predicted at the beginning of the NHL season that the Winnipeg Jets and Calgary Flames could meet in the Western Conference final in the spring, people would have looked at you like you were crazy.
Not the Jets part. They finished second in the league last year with 114 points. But the Flames limped into the final part of the season with two wins in their last 10 games and missed the last wild card spot by 11 points.
So, it's safe to say expectations for this year were somewhat shy of the Stanley Cup.
But after bursting out the gate this season, the Flames have (mostly) maintained their momentum and currently sit in first place in the Pacific Division with 22 wins and 47 points.
The only hiccup has been their current three-game losing streak, although to be fair the middle loss was in a shootout to the high-flying Tampa Bay Lightning.
Flames captain Mark Giordano is eager to end the slide Thursday night at Bell MTS Place. He and his teammates should have some confidence facing the Jets as they burned them for five first-period goals, chasing starter Connor Hellebuyck in the process, in a 6-3 victory on Nov. 21.
"We've had a good season to this point," Giordano told The Calgary Herald after last Saturday's 3-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues. "Now we're on a bit of a slide. It's a big game coming out of the break against Winnipeg. You don't want to let things like this keep going. We have to get back into the win column as soon as possible."
The Jets are the second-hottest team in the league with a record of 11-2-0 over their last 13 games and sit atop the Western Conference with 50 points, the third-highest total in the league.
Critics, however, say the Jets have made their hay against the NHL's lesser lights and have had a easier schedule than most in the first half of the season.
The Jets have relied heavily on center Mark Scheifele, who is generating some buzz for the Hart Trophy as the league's most valuable player, with 22 goals and 49 points in 36 games. That's good for sixth place and he's second among all forwards in ice time with 22 minutes, 43 seconds per game.
Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff said his linemate and captain Blake Wheeler has played a big role in helping Scheifele's development since he was chosen seventh overall in the 2011 entry draft.
"There is good chemistry certainly with him playing with (Wheeler),'' Cheveldayoff told the Winnipeg Sun. "In a lot of ways, Blake is a playmaking winger and (Scheifele is) a shooter. So, the way they play in the offensive zone, they read off each other, they drive, they move their feet, they compete, and they play hard along the wall. That's what helps them to play well together."
