With the Minnesota Wild and St. Louis Blues both notching wins Tuesday, the Flames were bounced from the Western Conference wild-card race
With the Minnesota Wild and St. Louis Blues both notching wins Tuesday, the Flames were bounced from the Western Conference wild-card race
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Counted out so many times over the past six-plus months, the Calgary Flames were officially knocked out at 8:48 p.m. MT on Tuesday.
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With the Minnesota Wild and St. Louis Blues both taking care of their own business, the Flames were eliminated from playoff contention with four periods remaining in their own season.
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The Wild and Blues clinched the wild-card berths in the Western Conference. While the Flames exceeded all expectations, while they put up a hell of a fight, they needed some help on Tuesday’s out-of-town scoreboard to keep their hopes alive.
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Didn’t happen.
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Noon News Roundup
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The Blues cruised to a blowout victory against Utah Hockey Club, and Minnesota’s Joel Eriksson Ek shattered hearts in Calgary when he scored the tying tally with just 20.9 seconds remaining in regulation against the Anaheim Ducks.
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The Flames stormed back for a 5-4 shootout triumph over the visiting Vegas Golden Knights, boosting their season total to 94 points, but that ultimately isn’t quite enough. Unfortunately, Thursday’s finale in Los Angeles is not a win-to-get-in.
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Here’s how it all unfolded Tuesday …
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6:22 p.m. MT
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As the Flames are gearing up for Tuesday’s pre-game warm-up, Blues captain Brayden Schenn stakes his team to an early lead in St. Louis. The replay doesn’t leave a whole lot of optimism that Utah is up to the task of spoiler. While Blues rookie Jimmy Snuggerud was stopped on a breakaway, Schenn won the race to the rebound as defenceman Michael Kesselring let off the gas on the backcheck.
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6:23 p.m. MT
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Double whammy. Just a minute after Schenn’s strike in St. Loo, Minnesota’s Marcus Johansson wires a glove-side shot to put the hosts ahead at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. With the Wild-Ducks game being shown on the big screen at the Saddledome, you can hear a chorus of groans as fans file in.
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6:29 p.m. MT
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Airdrie’s own Jake Neighbours doesn’t do the Flames any favours as he stickhandles past a couple of could-be defenders and sets up Pavel Buchnevich for a no-doubter, doubling the Blues’ lead in front of their home crowd at Enterprise Center.
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6:31 p.m. MT
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Finally some good news. Alex Killorn buries a bouncing pucks as the Ducks pull even in Minnesota.
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6:41 p.m. MT
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The Flames are starting to wrap their warm-up, with a few forwards working on their deflections and starting netminder Dustin Wolf leaning on the boards by the home bench, when Snuggerud cashes his first NHL goal. Some on social media grumble that it seemed to be a kicking motion.
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6:54 p.m. MT
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There are jokes in the press-box that a Blues scout might need to sneak out of the Saddledome in a fake moustache. And he hasn’t even heard yet that Zack Bolduc has just given his squad a 4-0 lead.
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7:14 p.m. MT
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A double whammy of another sort. As the Flames sniff to open the scoring at the Saddledome, Yegor Sharangovich and MacKenzie Weegar each clank the post on the same shift.