Flames (25-19-7) vs Kraken (23-27-3) | 6:00 p.m.

One: Take the points

With the Kraken sitting eight points out of a wild-card spot and having played three more games than the Flames as of Saturday, there’s no two ways about it: They need to win these head-to-head games. That’s the way to quickly make up such ground with fewer than 30 games to play.

The Kraken beat the Flames in their only prior matchup back in October, but that was in overtime. A regulation victory in which the Kraken gain two points on the Flames is paramount at this point.

The last time out, Joey Daccord was a huge factor in goal and he’ll need to be yet again. Daccord is 2-0-1 with a goals against average of 2.68 and a .908 save percentage in five career outings facing Calgary. The Kraken play the Flames twice more after this, so there is a path to gaining ground. They also have multiple games left against Vancouver, Utah, and St. Louis teams in the mix for that final wild card spot. But the margin for error is getting much slimmer by the week.

Two: Ride the Tolvy Train

For the Kraken to contend this season, they needed Eeli Tolvanen to take the next step in showing he’s a bona fide scorer who can be counted on to lift the offense when the top guys aren’t always firing.

With goals in four straight games – matching his career high from three years ago in Nashville – Tolvanen has again shown flashes of that natural scoring ability that’s intrigued scouts since he was a teenager.

Tolvanen’s 15 goals are one shy of last season’s mark and only three fewer than his combined career high with Nashville and the Kraken two seasons ago. The difference this season compared to that career-high is he had four power play goals versus just one this time around.

That means he’s been performing at even strength and doing it with an average of two minutes less ice time than a season ago. He’s also doing it without center Yanni Gourde, now out the next five to seven weeks after sports hernia surgery. But having centerman Chandler Stephenson between him and Oliver Bjorkstrand seems to be working out.

Indeed, Stephenson has quietly worked his way up to second in team points behind Jared McCann with 38 and leads the Kraken with 29 assists. So, Tolvanen could do worse than being fed by him.

Three: Know Your Foe

These are hardly the same Flames that came into Climate Pledge Arena 3 ½ months ago looking unbeatable before the Kraken took them down.

Their offense is way down at 2.68 goals per contest – fifth worst in the NHL. And their defense, while in the league’s top half, is still only 14^th best at 2.92 goals allowed per contest.

Onetime Everett Silvertips goalie Dustin Wolf was just named the NHL’s top rookie for the month of January and has solidified the No. 1 role ahead of Dan Vladar. But with Wolf expected to face the Red Wings on Saturday night, that means the Kraken should see Vladar in their contest – catching a break there.

Otherwise, nothing about Calgary really jumps out – especially considering they’re still in a wild card spot. Much of that is due to their fast start to the season: Winning five of their first six games. Heading into Saturday night’s contest, they’d won only 20 of 44 games since the early run, and four of those victories have come in the past six matchups.

So, they’ve been pretty inconsistent all season – helped by seven points from overtime and shootout losses. The Kraken have only three points from such defeats, while the Flames also have two more wins in overtime and shootouts combined than they do.

That’s a difference of eight points between the teams in capitalizing on games beyond regulation – exactly what separated them in the standings heading into Saturday.

But the Flames indeed hold a playoff spot and tried to boost their chances Thursday night by acquiring forwards Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee from the Philadelphia Flyers for a package headlined by forward Andrei Kuzmenko and also including forward Jakob Pelletier, a 2025 second-round pick and a 2028 seventh-rounder.