The Calgary Flames had a golden opportunity to punch their ticket for the Stanley Cup playoffs by earning as much as a point against the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday night. Instead, the Flames looked like anything but a playoff-bound group in a 6-1 loss to Vegas.
Clinchmas celebrations on the Red Mile have been postponed until at least Saturday night.
The rundown
The opening period was fairly tight-checking, but both teams got their chances. Jack Eichel set up Mattias Janmark for a scoring chance, but paid the price via a big centre ice hit by Nikita Zadorov.