Maybe this was the Calgary Flames‘ plan. Purposely lose to the Arizona Coyotes so that they inch closer to that second wildcard spot and potentially play them in the first round of the playoffs. Otherwise, the Flames have now dropped their fourth straight game.
They were shutout 2-0 as they dropped the first game against the Coyotes this season, going 3-1-0 in the series. A big reason for this loss was Darcy Kuemper who stopped all 30 shots he faced for his third shutout of the season. Mike Smith on the other end wasn’t too bad either, stopping 23 of 25 shots.