Flames aim to boost playoff chances in Edmonton

(SportsNetwork.com) - The Calgary Flames will try to maintain their hold on a playoff spot when they visit the Edmonton Oilers for Saturday's battle at Rexall Place.

The Flames enter today holding onto the third and final playoff berth from the Pacific Division, but Los Angeles is lurking just one point behind and holds a game in hand over Calgary. The Winnipeg Jets also are tied with the Kings at 90 points, but L.A. holds the tiebreaker for the last wild card spot in the Western Conference.

The Kings, who have five games remaining in the regular season, host Colorado on Saturday, while the Jets are at home against Vancouver. Winnipeg also has five games remaining.

The Flames will welcome L.A. for an important battle on Thursday and closes the regular season next Saturday in Winnipeg.

Calgary is hoping to continue its recent run of success against the Oilers, who have lost six straight and seven of the past eight meetings in this series. The Flames also have won five in a row and nine of their past 11 in Edmonton.

The Flames have scored at least four goals in five straight meetings with the Oilers.

Calgary is 2-2-0 on a five-game road trip, but was handed a 4-1 loss Thursday night in St. Louis. The Flames were outshot by a 43-18 margin in the ugly loss.

Sean Monahan scored the lone goal for the Flames, notching his 30th goal of the season. At 20 years, five months and 21 days old, Monahan became the youngest player in Calgary history to reach the 30-goal mark.

Jonas Hiller put forth a valiant effort in the loss, stopping 39-of-42 shots.

"Now we're down to four games. We don't have any time to feel sorry for us. We enjoy being in this situation," Flames coach Bob Hartley said after the loss.

The Flames fell to 21-16-2 as the visiting team. They will host Arizona on Tuesday before closing the regular season with the key matchups against the Kings and Jets.

Edmonton will miss the playoffs for a ninth straight time this spring and the club hasn't seem too interested in playing spoiler over the last two games. The Oilers were slammed 5-1 in Anaheim on Wednesday and lost by an even bigger margin the next night in L.A., dropping an 8-2 decision against the Kings.

The Oilers trailed by as many as seven goals (8-1) during Thursday's rout. Ben Scrivens gave up five goals on 21 shots, while Tyler Bunz allowed three goals on 12 shots during the third period in his NHL debut.

Teddy Purcell and Jordan Eberle scored for Edmonton.

"We have some work to do if we want to compete," Oilers forward Taylor Hall said.

The Oilers are beginning a three-game homestand tonight. They are 14-21-3 as the host this season.

Edmonton will finish its season on the road next Saturday in Vancouver.