Flames officially eliminated from playoff contention

For the second straight season, the Calgary Flames will not be participating in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

For the Flames to have fought off elimination tonight, they would have needed to pick up two points against the Winnipeg Jets. They failed to do so, falling by a 5-2 final.

Things started off well for the Flames in this one, as MacKenzie Weegar opened the scoring less than five minutes in on a power-play goal with the assists going to Jonathan Huberdeau and Andrei Kuzmenko.

#Flames MacKenzie Weegar's 19 goals this season are the most in the NHL among players with 100+ hits & 100+ blocked shots pic.twitter.com/R3sfXQV9uC

— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) April 5, 2024

The Jets responded with two goals later into the frame from Gabriel Vilardi and Nikolaj Ehlers, but the Flames continued to fight and evened it up midway through the second. This time it was Daniil Miromanov finding the back of the net for his third in a Flames jersey, while Weegar picked up the lone assist.

Daniil Miromanov's point shot finds it's way to the back of the net!

Tie game. 2-2#Flames | #GoJetsGo
🎥: Sportsnet | NHL pic.twitter.com/HLWl8PiVvM

— Robert Munnich (@RingOfFireCGY) April 5, 2024

That was as close as the Flames would get, as Tyler Toffoli put the Jets up 3-2 on a power-play goal late in the second, while Vilardi scored two in the third to give himself a hat trick.

Despite having plenty of outside noise due to trade speculation for the vast majority of the season, the Flames did a good job of keeping themselves in the race for a long stretch. That began to change in recent weeks following the departures of Chris Tanev and Noah Hanifin, however, putting them in a position where they needed to win all of their eight remaining games to have a shot at getting in.

With the loss, their record has dropped to 34-36-5 for 73 points. With just seven games remaining, the most points they can end with is 87, two shy of the LA Kings who currently sit in the final wild-card position with 89.

While the 2023-24 season has certainly been a frustrating one, there are plenty of reasons for the Flames fan base to be excited. Not only has general manager Craig Conroy done a solid job at acquiring several draft picks and some intriguing prospects, but the Flames appear to be in line to have a top-10 selection at the 2024 NHL Draft this June. They are currently slated to select eighth overall, which will allow them to add another great young prospect to their already solid pipeline.

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