At the Rink: Blues at Flames

CALGARY -- It's not quite do-or-die for the Calgary Flames, who host the St. Louis Blues at Scotiabank Saddledome on Tuesday, but it's getting close.

The Flames, who currently sit third in the Pacific Division, are treating each of their remaining 13 regular-season games as must-win.

"Each game feels like it's so important with the way other teams are playing," Flames forward Joe Colborne said. "You can't even afford … each game feels like it's a do-or-die. You can't afford to miss these games. Obviously it's a very tough opponent we have tonight, but it doesn't change the way we have to play. We have to come out and show our will like we have lately."

A victory against the Blues coupled with a Vancouver Canucks loss to the Philadelphia Flyers would vault Calgary into second place in the Pacific and home-ice advantage. Conversely, a loss to St. Louis and a Winnipeg Jets win against the San Jose Sharks would leave the Flames on the outside of the Stanley Cup Playoffs picture looking in.

It's put a premium on earning points down the stretch.

"There's about four or five teams going for two or three playoff spots, so you need to take advantage of every game you can," Colborne said. "This is one that if you can come out with two points, that's huge for us. That's the way we have to approach it."

The Blues, however, are in a position to take a different approach. St. Louis has a share of first in the Central Division with the Nashville Predators at 93 points and has two games at hand.

But instead of focusing on a division title or Presidents' Trophy, forward David Backes insists the Blues are instead looking to round their game as they focus on their own playoff aspirations.

"We're concentrating on ourselves and our games and our process and making sure each day we're getting better and improving ourselves, so when we hit the playoffs we're hitting our stride and we're rolling into it rather than stumbling into it or crawling into it," he said. "That's really a lesson we learned last year.

"We want to be playing our best hockey down the stretch, these last 12, 13 games and then be able to have that first playoff game just be the next game on the schedule rather than it being this big change of method of how we're playing."

Who the Blues are playing can help.

Including weekend games against the Minnesota Wild and Dallas Stars, St. Louis is in the middle of a stretch that sees them play five consecutive games against teams jockeying for the final few playoff positions in the Western Conference.

"We're playing a lot of teams that are a couple points in or a couple points out," Backes said. "We've been there before too and you know that every game down the stretch is like a playoff game. You're fighting for your life. They're pouring it all in and it's really forced us to play good hockey to stay alive and stay in games. That being said, we've shown a lot of character in being able to do that and need to continue to do that going forward."

Here are the projected lineups:

BLUES

Alex Steen - David Backes - T.J. Oshie

Jaden Schwartz – Jori Lehtera – Vladimir Tarasenko

Dmitrij Jaskin – Paul Stastny – Patrik Berglund

Chris Porter – Steve Ott – Ryan Reaves

Carl Gunnarsson – Alex Pietrangelo

Jay Bouwmeester – Zbynek Michalek

Petteri Lindbohm – Robert Bortuzzo

Brian Elliott

Jake Allen

Scratched: Chris Butler, Marcel Goc, Barret Jackman

Injured: Olli Jokinen (upper body), Kevin Shattenkirk (abdominal surgery)

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

Jonas Hiller

Karri Ramo

Scratched: Corey Potter, Emile Poirier, Drew Shore

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

Status update: Jackman, who has played in all 69 games this season, is expected to be a healthy scratch for the Blues. … Ferland is expected to play against St. Louis. Shore will come out in his place. Defenseman Douglas Murray remains with the Flames on a tryout basis.

Who's hot: Including points in back-to-back games, Backes has two goals and three assists in his past five games for St. Louis. … Backlund has three goals and nine points during a career-high eight-game point-scoring streak.