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Desperate Flames hope to continue dominance of Oilers

Apr 6, 2011 - 3:21 PM (Sports Network) - The Flames return to Calgary having kept their fading playoff chances alive. It still might be too little, too late.

Coming off back-to-back road wins, the Flames shoot for an eighth straight home victory over the Edmonton Oilers tonight -- one that will hopefully keep them alive in the race for a postseason spot -- when the two teams clash at the Saddledome.

Calgary has won three of four since a 1-4-2 skid from March 10-23, but that rut may have introduced enough poison into their playoff chances to make consecutive wins at St. Louis and Colorado moot. The Flames sit in a tie for ninth in the Western Conference with the Stars, two points back of the Blackhawks and Ducks, who have 93 points each.

However, the Flames have just two games left on their schedule, including tonight's tilt, while the Ducks and Blackhawks have three remaining and are both in action on Wednesday. The Stars also have three games left and are idle tonight.

That deficit leaves Calgary no room for error as it needs to win out and get a lot of help.

"Right now we need the gods on our side to get into the playoffs," forward Alex Tanguay said after Sunday's 2-1 win at Colorado. "We got our points, and we just have to keep winning."

Tanguay and Olli Jokinen supplied the goals versus the Avalanche, while Miikka Kiprusoff made 34 saves.

After hosting the basement-dwelling Oilers tonight, the Flames will get a visit from the Presidents' Trophy-winning Canucks on Saturday in their regular-season finale. They are 22-13-4 at home this season.

Kiprusoff is 11-2 in his last 13 games versus the Oilers, starting all five meetings versus them this year in the Battle of Alberta, going 4-1 with a 3.11 goals-against average.

Calgary has won four straight over Edmonton since losing a 4-0 road decision on Oct. 7, giving it a victory in 11 of the past 12 meetings and nine of the past 12 played at home in this series.

Edmonton hasn't won at the Saddledome since Oct. 17, 2008, but is coming off back-to-back victories against Vancouver.

The Oilers began the home-and-home set with a 4-1 road victory on Saturday to snap an 11-game slide (0-8-3), then posted a 2-0 win at home on Tuesday. Devan Dubnyk made 26 saves for his second career shutout.

"It was important for us to come back and show that it wasn't an accident," Dubnyk told Edmonton's website. "Just make sure we stayed within the whole game and see what happened. It feels pretty good to do that twice in a row."

Ryan Jones and Magnus Paajarvi each had a goal for the Oilers, who are still last in the NHL with 61 points as they play out the string.

Edmonton, which has lost seven of its past eight on the road, will host Minnesota on Friday before ending its season at Colorado on Sunday.