As the Stanley Cup qualifiers march along, one more team — this time out of the Western Conference — has punched their ticket to the official first round this upcoming Tuesday.
The Calgary Flames dropped Game 2 of their series against the Winnipeg Jets this past Monday, but Winnipeg’s mounting injuries ultimately proved too much to overcome. So on Thursday night, in the final game of that day’s play-in slate, Calgary stormed to a 4-0 shutout win in their fourth game against Winnipeg to clinch their series. They’ll move on to face either St. Louis or Dallas next week, becoming the first Western Conference team to punch their playoff ticket from the play-in bracket.