5 THINGS - FLAMES VS. KINGS

FLAMES (47-21-7: 101 pts.) vs. LA KINGS (27-39-8: 62 pts.)

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US

The Flames have gotten red hot again at just the right time as they look to win their first conference title in 29 years. They've won three straight and six of their last seven. Over that span, they have outscored the opposition 33-14 (the lone loss a 2-1 setback to the Jets on March 16 in Winnipeg). In their most recent W, Mark Giordano scored in the first period, Garnet Hathawayin the second and Andrew Mangiapane in the third en route to a 3-1 won over the Canucks in Vancouver in the second game of the Hockey Night in Canada double bill. The Hathaway-Derek Ryan-Mangiapane line had another big night, just 48 hours after pacing Calgary to a 5-1 victory over the Senators at home with a combined six points between them. "That line's been real good," said head coach Bill Peters. "The difference is, they're finishing off more plays than they did earlier in the year. They're starting to get rewarded for their effort. It's good. We need depth scoring and tonight, they were involved in all three. They're getting rewarded for the work they're putting in." … The victory vaulted the Flames over the 100-point plateau for only the fifth time in franchise history. This also marks the third time in franchise history the Flames have been the first Western Conference team to reach 100+ points; the other two instances were 1987-88 and 1988-89.

THEM

Don't look now but the Kings have been on a bit of a roll of late. After pair of one-goal losses to the Panthers (4-3 on March 16) and the Jets (3-2 on March 18), the Kings - currently sitting in the Western Conference cellar, dead last with 62 points - have won two straight. They did the Flames a big favour when they rallied from a 2-1 deficit after 40 minutes, scoring three in the third period to beat the Sharks 4-2 on March 21. Kopitar, Dustin Brown, Matt Royand Jeff Carter scored for the homeside in the victory, Jonathan Quick turning aside 23 shots. Two nights later, Carter, Kyle Clifford and Carl Grundstrom - who scored with less four minutes left to tie the game - all tallied to forced OT and a shootout, where the Kings grabbed another two points with their second consecutive win over one of their California cousins. Quick stopped 17 shots between the pipes.

US vs. THEM

The Flames won a pair of tilts against the Kings back in November. Travis Hamonicwas the lone goalscorer in a 1-0 win at the Staples Center on Nov. 10 and 19 days later, beat them 4-1 at the Scotiabank Saddledome. Mikael Backlund scored in the first period and and added one in the third, along with Gaudreau and Sean Monahan who also tallied in the final frame. "We stuck with it. It was a little bit of a boring game there throughout two. But when it mattered most in the third we played hard," said Gaudreau. "We had our strongest period in the third, which is a good sign. I think our team played well tonight. It was a big, big two points." … The Flames score a lot of goals. The Kings, not so much. Calgary leads the Western Conference with an impressive +58 goal differential. LA, on the other hand, is tied for dead last at -57 with the Ducks. Not surprisingly, the Kings are also second-worst in the league (ahead of the Ducks) in shots-per-game average with 28.4. The Flames are 14th at 32.3.

THIS, THAT, & THE OTHER

THIS:The Flames have an NHL leading five players with 70+ points this season: Gaudreau (92 pts), Elias Lindholm (77 pts), Monahan (76 pts), Matthew Tkachuk (76 pts, Giordano (72 pts) … THAT: Speaking of Tkachuk, he has 13 points (8G, 5A) in his last six home games … THE OTHER: Giordano is tied with Owen Nolan for the second most goals by a Flames player 35-or-older in a season with 16. The most belongs to Dave Lowry, who had 18 goals in 2000-01 for the Flames.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Flames: LW Andrew Mangiapane
The youngster is riding a three-game goal streak, the longest of his career. He has four points in the last three games (3G, 1A), pushing his season totals to seven goals and 11 points in 37 games.
Kings: G Jonathan Quick
The netminder remains the backbone of a struggling Kings team and will need to come up with a big game if his team hopes to beat the division leaders.