<p>It’s easy to draw parallels between this season and the Calgary Flames’ 2014-15 season.</p>
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<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">If you didn’t know, the Flames need a lot to go right on Tuesday to keep their playoff dreams alive. First, they need to win their game against the Vegas Golden Knights, preferably in regulation. They also need help.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Minnesota Wild, who occupy the first wild card, host the Anaheim Ducks at 6:00 PM MT. At the same time, the St. Louis Blues host the Utah Hockey Club. If you need a refresher on what needs to happen on Tuesday,</span><a href="https://flamesnation.ca/news/what-needs-to-happen-on-tuesday-for-the-flames-to-stay-alive-in-the-playoff-race"><span style="font-weight: 400;"> take a look at Ryan Pike’s article from earlier today</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Tuesday’s game will be the Flames’ 81st of the season, and just over 10 years ago, they played a crucial game. In this edition of Throwback Tuesday, let’s take a look at game 81 of the 2014-15 season.</span></p>
<h2>The situation</h2>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">On Apr. 8, 2015, the Flames sat in the third spot in the Pacific Division thanks to a 44-29-7 record with 95 points. There was only one team that could catch them, the reigning Stanley Cup champions, the Los Angeles Kings. They had a 39-26-15 record with 95 points, with both teams playing 80 games.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Who did the Flames end up playing on Apr. 9? The Kings. Winning this game would’ve guaranteed them a spot in the post-season as it would’ve eliminated the Kings.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Let’s take a look at what happened in the game.</span></p>
<h2>Flames and Kings for a post-season spot</h2>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">With just under eight minutes left in the period, the late great Johnny Gaudreau opened the scoring for the Flames. It was his 24th goal of his rookie campaign, as he finished with 64 points in 80 games. Gaudreau finished on the All-Rookie team and third in Calder voting that season. The 2014-15 season was also Johnny Hockey’s first All-Star game. Rest in peace, Johnny and Matthew.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Just over two minutes later, Jiří Hudler scored his 30th goal of the season on a slapshot, giving the Flames a 2-0 lead. This continued to build off his career-high in both goals and points, as his previous best was in 2011-12 with the Detroit Red Wings where he scored 25 goals and 50 points.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Kings put the pressure on in the second period, outshooting the Flames 12-4. Jonas Hiller stood strong as he had all season, saving all 20 shots he faced through two periods. However, the Kings finally broke through five minutes into the third as Jordan Nolan put them on the board.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In total, Hiller faced 34 shots in the game, saving 33 of them for a .971 save percentage and the first star. The second star of the game, Hudler, found the twine with an empty-net goal with 50 seconds left to clinch the Flames’ berth in the 2015 post-season.</span></p>
<div class="jetpack-video-wrapper"><iframe loading="lazy" title="Jiri Hudler - Empty net" width="1424" height="801" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/z-kIdjmYY_0?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>How did the Flames do in the post-season?</h2>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In the first round, the Flames matched up with the Vancouver Canucks, who had earned home-ice advantage. </span><a href="https://flamesnation.ca/news/throwback-tuesday-flames-canucks-post-season-history"><span style="font-weight: 400;">I’ve written about that and the rest of the matchups between the two teams</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> in the first edition of Throwback Tuesday back in November.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The short is that they played a bunch of relatively close, low-scoring games until Game 6 at the Saddledome, where the Flames put seven goals in the back of the net to win the series and move on to the second round. The most important one came from Matt Stajan, who scored with 4:17 left to break the 4-4 deadlock.</span></p>
<div class="jetpack-video-wrapper"><iframe loading="lazy" title="Matt Stajan Goal vs  Canucks" width="1424" height="801" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zI6bLx1HYY8?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">It didn’t go as well for the Flames in the second round, as they fell in five games to the Anaheim Ducks. After a blowout and a shutout in Games 1 and 2, the series was far more competitive, with Mikael Backlund scoring the overtime winner in overtime to cut the series lead in half. An early Ducks’ goal in the third period was the game-winner in Game 4, and the Ducks won in overtime in Game 5 to end the Flames’ playoff run.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Still, for a team that was supposed to be rebuilding, the 2014-15 season was a great run for the Flames. Hopefully, history will repeat itself on Tuesday.</span></p>
<hr />
<p><strong><i>Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for <a href="https://flamesnation.ca/combinations">FlamesNation</a>, Oilersnation, and Blue Jays Nation. They can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.</i></strong></p>
<p><strong>Sponsored by bet365:</strong></p>
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It’s easy to draw parallels between this season and the Calgary Flames’ 2014-15 season.
<div class="bam-inline-promotion-block" data-max-length="2" data-placement-id="2109" data-context="web-content-promocard" data-property-id="328"></div>


<span style="font-weight: 400;">If you didn’t know, the Flames need a lot to go right on Tuesday to keep their playoff dreams alive. First, they need to win their game against the Vegas Golden Knights, preferably in regulation. They also need help.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The Minnesota Wild, who occupy the first wild card, host the Anaheim Ducks at 6:00 PM MT. At the same time, the St. Louis Blues host the Utah Hockey Club. If you need a refresher on what needs to happen on Tuesday,</span><a href="https://flamesnation.ca/news/what-needs-to-happen-on-tuesday-for-the-flames-to-stay-alive-in-the-playoff-race"><span style="font-weight: 400;"> take a look at Ryan Pike’s article from earlier today</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Tuesday’s game will be the Flames’ 81st of the season, and just over 10 years ago, they played a crucial game. In this edition of Throwback Tuesday, let’s take a look at game 81 of the 2014-15 season.</span>
<h2>The situation</h2>
<span style="font-weight: 400;">On Apr. 8, 2015, the Flames sat in the third spot in the Pacific Division thanks to a 44-29-7 record with 95 points. There was only one team that could catch them, the reigning Stanley Cup champions, the Los Angeles Kings. They had a 39-26-15 record with 95 points, with both teams playing 80 games.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Who did the Flames end up playing on Apr. 9? The Kings. Winning this game would’ve guaranteed them a spot in the post-season as it would’ve eliminated the Kings.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Let’s take a look at what happened in the game.</span>
<h2>Flames and Kings for a post-season spot</h2>
<span style="font-weight: 400;">With just under eight minutes left in the period, the late great Johnny Gaudreau opened the scoring for the Flames. It was his 24th goal of his rookie campaign, as he finished with 64 points in 80 games. Gaudreau finished on the All-Rookie team and third in Calder voting that season. The 2014-15 season was also Johnny Hockey’s first All-Star game. Rest in peace, Johnny and Matthew.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Just over two minutes later, Jiří Hudler scored his 30th goal of the season on a slapshot, giving the Flames a 2-0 lead. This continued to build off his career-high in both goals and points, as his previous best was in 2011-12 with the Detroit Red Wings where he scored 25 goals and 50 points.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The Kings put the pressure on in the second period, outshooting the Flames 12-4. Jonas Hiller stood strong as he had all season, saving all 20 shots he faced through two periods. However, the Kings finally broke through five minutes into the third as Jordan Nolan put them on the board.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">In total, Hiller faced 34 shots in the game, saving 33 of them for a .971 save percentage and the first star. The second star of the game, Hudler, found the twine with an empty-net goal with 50 seconds left to clinch the Flames’ berth in the 2015 post-season.</span>

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-kIdjmYY_0&amp;ab_channel=MatthiasRoth

&nbsp;
<h2>How did the Flames do in the post-season?</h2>
<span style="font-weight: 400;">In the first round, the Flames matched up with the Vancouver Canucks, who had earned home-ice advantage. </span><a href="https://flamesnation.ca/news/throwback-tuesday-flames-canucks-post-season-history"><span style="font-weight: 400;">I’ve written about that and the rest of the matchups between the two teams</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> in the first edition of Throwback Tuesday back in November.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The short is that they played a bunch of relatively close, low-scoring games until Game 6 at the Saddledome, where the Flames put seven goals in the back of the net to win the series and move on to the second round. The most important one came from Matt Stajan, who scored with 4:17 left to break the 4-4 deadlock.</span>

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zI6bLx1HYY8&amp;ab_channel=BradKnight

&nbsp;

<span style="font-weight: 400;">It didn’t go as well for the Flames in the second round, as they fell in five games to the Anaheim Ducks. After a blowout and a shutout in Games 1 and 2, the series was far more competitive, with Mikael Backlund scoring the overtime winner in overtime to cut the series lead in half. An early Ducks’ goal in the third period was the game-winner in Game 4, and the Ducks won in overtime in Game 5 to end the Flames’ playoff run.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Still, for a team that was supposed to be rebuilding, the 2014-15 season was a great run for the Flames. Hopefully, history will repeat itself on Tuesday.</span>

<hr />

<strong><i>Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for <a href="https://flamesnation.ca/combinations">FlamesNation</a>, Oilersnation, and Blue Jays Nation. They can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.</i></strong>

<strong>Sponsored by bet365:</strong>
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Throwback Tuesday: Looking at the post-season clinching game in 2014-15

The clock strikes midnight: Flames’ Cinderella run ends with elimination from playoff race

Calgary Flames defenseman MacKenzie Weegar (52) and Vegas Golden Knights right wing Mark Stone (61) compete for the puck during the third period at Scotiabank Saddledome

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