Game Day: Flames schedule prediction update

You may have yet to read my bold Calgary Flames predictions story a couple of weeks ago.

In it, I outlined what I think was a reasonable path for the Flames in their quest for a playoff spot in the Western Conference.

It required them to pick up their game and break out of the one-step-up-one-step-back approach and play better than .500 hockey, maybe even string together a winning streak of three (or more?!), something the Flames haven’t achieved since early December.

That was seven games ago. Since then, the Flames have gone 4-2-1 with seven games remaining in their regular-season schedule. (I predicted they’d go 5-2 by this point. I was close!)

At the time, they were sitting in 10th place, one point behind the ninth-place Nashville Predators and five points behind the eighth-place Winnipeg Jets, holders of the final wildcard spot in the West.

Today before the puck is dropped on NHL action, the same three teams are in even more of a dogfight. The Jets are still eighth but just two points ahead of the ninth-place Flames and three ahead of the 10th-place Preds.

Calgary has gained ground on both rivals. Winnipeg has a record of 3-4 over the last two weeks, Nashville a record of 3-5-1.

The prognosis for these three teams’ games over the season's final two weeks is in the Flames’ favour — provided Calgary beats both of them as they play each other in this timeframe.

That said, the NHL schedule-maker was kind to the Flames for this final handful of games. Calgary plays just one team ahead of them (Winnipeg) in the standings over their final seven games. Winnipeg faces three teams with records better than theirs over their final seven. Nashville’s the worst off of the three — seven of their final eight games are against stiffer opposition.

So the chances of the Flames somehow clawing their way past the Jets are in their favour. They just have to keep winning more than they’re losing/loser-pointing. The key to that is beating both the Jets on April 5 and the Predators on April 10.

Except for tonight. My crystal ball has the Canucks upsetting the Flames in overtime. Hey, you can't win them all.

But if Calgary can live up to my bold prediction of a 5-1-1 run over these last seven games — including four wins in a row (!) to end the season —  well, just crown me Swami already.

Flames projected lines

Forward

1. Andrew Mangiapane • Elias Lindholm • Tyler Toffoli
2. Jonathan Huberdeau • Mikael Backlund • Blake Coleman
3. Nick Ritchie • Nazem Kadri • Dillon Dube
4. Milan Lucic • Trevor Lewis • Walker Duehr

Defence

1. Noah Hanifin • Rasmus Andersson
2. Nikita Zadorov • MacKenzie Weegar
3. Dennis Gilbert • Troy Stecher

Goal

• Jacob Markstrom

Canucks projected lines

Forward

1. Phillip Di Giuseppe • JT Miller • Brock Boeser
2. Andrei Kuzmenko • Elias Pettersson • Dakota Joshua
3. Anthony Beauvillier • Nils Åman • Conor Garland
4. Aidan McDonough • Sheldon Dries • Jack Studnicka

Defence

1. Quinn Hughes • Ethan Bear
2. Guillaume Brisebois Tyler Myers
3. Jack Rathbone • Kyle Burroughs

Goal

• Thatcher Demko