At the Rink: Ducks at Flames

CALGARY -- The Anaheim Ducks are treating their game against the Calgary Flames at Scotiabank Saddledome on Wednesday as a potential Stanley Cup Playoffs matchup.

The Pacific Division-leading Ducks (42-19-7) share a tie for first overall in the NHL at 91 points and are mindful about Calgary's standing in the Western Conference.

"This could be a potential playoff matchup and you always want to play good against teams you think you could possibly play in the playoffs," Anaheim forward Andrew Cogliano said. "It'll be a good game. We've had great games against them so far this year, especially in this building. We expect nothing else."

The Flames currently sit third in the Pacific but are tied with the fourth-place Los Angeles Kings at 77 points. Calgary sits three back of the Vancouver Canucks for second in the division and trails the Winnipeg Jets, who hold the second wild card into the playoffs from the West, by one point.

"Any team you play that's in the playoffs now or in a position where they look like they're right there could eventually be a matchup at some point," Cogliano said. "You always want to be good and playing well against your own divisional teams.

"We've done a good job against Calgary this year and we want to continue that. They're very desperate for points. It should be two teams that really want to win coming out tonight. It should be a good game."

The Flames have built some momentum coming home off a season-high seven-game road trip through the Eastern Conference, earning nine of a possible 14 points and seven of a possible 10 since captain Mark Giordano sustained a torn biceps muscle that ended his season.

The Flames knows the challenge of continuing that run against the Ducks.

"It's definitely one of the best hockey clubs in the League … built for the playoffs, big size," said Flames coach Bob Hartley, whose team will play seven of the next eight games at home. "You try to find weaknesses on that team, you better wake up early in the morning. They have depth all over their forward lines, their blue line, two great young goalies.

"You look at their record, we're approaching the year-end and they've been probably the best teams and one of the most consistent teams. You don't do this by luck; you do this because you have character and you have talent."

The Ducks see a challenge in Calgary too, and are mindful of a potential playoff meet.

"We know what Calgary is," Anaheim coach Bruce Boudreau said. "They're going to come out and play as good as they can. They are probably feeling pretty good about themselves coming off that road trip, especially coming back in the last game. We know our hands are full. We've never had an easy game against these guys and I don't think we ever will.

"I think Vancouver, these guys, Minnesota, if we make the playoffs they're all candidates for us to play. I try to figure everything out and every day it changes. I've given it up a little bit and say whoever we play, we play. Let's just make it (to the playoffs)."

Here are the projected lineups:

DUCKS

Patrick Maroon - Ryan Getzlaf - Kyle Palmieri

Andrew Cogliano - Rickard Rakell - Corey Perry

Tomas Fleischmann - Ryan Kesler - Jakob Silfverberg

Jiri Sekac - Nate Thompson - Emerson Etem

Hampus Lindholm - Francois Beauchemin

Cam Fowler - Simon Despres

Clayton Stoner - James Wisniewski

John Gibson

Frederik Andersen

Scratched: Josh Manson

Injured: Tim Jackman (lower body), Matt Beleskey (upper body), Sami Vatanen (lower body), Korbinian Holzer (upper body)

FLAMES

Johnny Gaudreau - Sean Monahan - Jiri Hudler

Lance Bouma - Mikael Backlund - David Jones

Mason Raymond - Josh Jooris - Joe Colborne

Brandon Bollig - Matt Stajan - Michael Ferland

Kris Russell - Dennis Wideman

TJ Brodie - Deryk Engelland

David Schlemko - Raphael Diaz

Karri Ramo

Jonas Hiller

Scratched: none

Injured: Drew Shore (undisclosed), Ladislav Smid (upper body), Paul Byron (lower body), Mark Giordano (torn biceps tendon)

Status report: Belesky and Vatanen took the morning skate, but Boudreau ruled them out. … Shore took the morning skate after missing practice Monday but isn't expected to play. Ramo is expected to make his seventh start in the past eight games.

Who's hot: Etem has points in back-to-back games. Thompson has three assists in his past four games. … Hudler, named the NHL's First Star of the Week ending March 8, has four goals and four assists on a four-game point streak, all multipoint games. Gaudreau and Monahan, Hudler's linemates, have points in four straight.