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Donna Spencer and Gemma Karstens-Smith
Vancouver Canucks Bo Horvat, right, checks Calgary Flames Nikita Nesterov during first period NHL hockey action in Calgary, Monday, Jan. 18, 2021. By the time the Flames and Canucks cap their regular seasons, the Washington Capitals and Boston Bruins will be well into the first round of their playoff series.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh May 14, 2021 - 9:18 AM
By the time the Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks cap their regular seasons, the Washington Capitals and Boston Bruins will be well into the first round of their playoff series.
Another bizarre anomaly in an NHL season with a COVID-19 backdrop is two teams regular seasons overlapping with other clubs playoff series.
They need … anything but this.
Their visit to Ottawa, home to the cellar-dwelling Senators, will wait until later in the week.
First, they hit Toronto for a pair of meetings with North Division-leading Maple Leafs. Gulp.
The Flames, it seems, can’t keep the puck out of their own net.
Auston Matthews, it seems, can’t be stopped.
For a struggling squad, now south of the even-steven line at 8-9-1, it feels like a match made in hockey hell. Somewhere, you can hear Harvey the Hound whimpering.
“Well, we’re playing arguably the best team in the league these next two games and they’re going to be intense games because they came into our rink and took it to us for two games (in January),” said Flames alternate captain Matthew Tkachuk after Saturday’s Blowout of Alberta a 7-1 landslide for the host Oilers at Rogers Place in Edmonton.