Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Western playoff chaos: Flames stay alive, Blackhawks take a fall, Stars win controversially

Alex Tanguay, Jarome Iginla, Olli Jokinen

Calgary Flames left Wing Alex Tanguay (40) and right wing Jarome Iginla celebrate a goal scored by Flames center Olli Jokinen, right, of Finland, against the Colorado Avalanche in the second period of an NHL hockey game in Denver on Sunday, April 3, 2011. (AP Photo/Joe Mahoney)

AP

Things in the Western Conference playoff race could’ve been figured out rather quickly if the Anaheim Ducks pulled off a regulation win over the Dallas Stars today. Fittingly enough for how things have gone all season in the West, that didn’t happen and even more shenanigans went down to make things a even more jumbled up than they were already.

Tampa Bay 2 - Chicago 0

The Blackhawks had a chance to help their odds of making the playoffs by pulling off a win. Instead they were stymied by Mike Smith and his 31-save shutout while Vincent Lecavalier scored a power play goal in the second period while Nate Thompson scored an empty net goal to help the Lightning lock up at worst the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference. For Chicago, two points would’ve allowed them to hang on to their three point advantage over Calgary in the race for the eighth seed. Instead, they’re now just up on the Flames by one point. Fortunately for Chicago, they’ve got two games in hand over Calgary and can better secure their spot in the West, but they’ve also got Dallas to worry about too as the Stars trail them by three points with four games left. Corey Crawford made just 13 saves in the loss for Chicago.

Calgary 2 - Colorado 1

Calgary kept their slim hopes of the playoffs alive by winning yet again. Alex Tanguay had a goal and an assist to lead the Flames while Miikka Kiprusoff made 34 saves to help keep Calgary’s slim hopes alive. The downside for Calgary is that they’ve got just two games left and they’ll need to win them both as both Chicago and Dallas below them have two games in hand on the Flames to either catch up to or extend their lead in the West on the Flames. Anaheim who is two points up on Calgary has three games left in the season. It’s an uphill climb for Calgary and they’re running out of games fast, but they’re still alive which is more than we thought of them just a week ago.

Dallas 4 - Anaheim 3

In the most exciting game of the night, the Stars withstood Corey Perry’s 47th goal of the year and two waved off goals in the final three minutes to hang on and beat Anaheim to keep their hopes of the playoffs alive. Mike Ribeiro scored twice to lead the Stars while Brenden Morrow added a goal and two assists and Kari Lehtonen saved 24 shots to get the win. Anaheim twice thought they tied the game late but a goalie interference call on Saku Koivu wiped out an apparent Teemu Selanne goal and a hand pass wiped out an apparent Bobby Ryan goal with under a minute to go.

Anaheim’s loss in regulation didn’t allow Nashville, Los Angeles, and Phoenix to clinch playoff spots and allowed Dallas a glimmer of hope of still making the playoffs. With the Ducks hanging on to the seventh spot by two points over Calgary and four on Dallas, they’re not out of the woods yet by far. Will this loss come back to haunt them? We’ll find out in the next seven days.