'READY TO GO'

WINNIPEG - Win or lose tonight, it will officially go down as the second-best season in franchise history.
Fifty wins. A division crown. Eleven players having career years offensively, including Johnny Gaudreau and his 40-goal, 115-point outburst. Matthew Tkachuk, Elias Lindholm - on and on, the numbers are blinding.
But at 8:30 tonight… we start fresh.

On paper, it would be easy to look past this one. Neither the Flames, nor the Winnipeg Jets can do anything to shake up the landscape.
But for the visitors - who will host Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs next week - it's vital.
This is, after all, Calgary's last dress rehearsal before we get going for 'real.'
"We have to keep in mind it's about how we play," Assistant Coach Cail MacLean said at the team hotel Friday morning. "That doesn't change, regardless of the situation or opponent. We have to make sure that we're doing the things that we do to be successful, both 5-on-5 and on special teams.
"It's really about preparation. We really want to be mentally prepared and make sure that we're putting our best foot forward so we can have a good 60 minutes tonight, bottom line."
The Flames are coming off a 3-2 overtime loss to the Minnesota Wild last night. Johnny Gaudreau scored his 40th goal of the season and his linemate, Elias Lindholm, tied the game late in the third period to force OT, but Kirill Kaprizov whipped home the winner on a powerplay chance early in extra time.
It was the second time on this trip the Flames have rallied from a third-period deficit to stay alive in an emotional, tight-checking game. On Tuesday, you might recall, Tkachuk delivered one of the most dramatic finishes you'll ever see when he levelled the count with only 0.1 seconds left on the clock before Lindholm won it in OT.
While the Flames - who've opened the scoring a league-leading 53 times this year - would prefer to play with a lead and not put themselves in a position to fight back, the experience of doing so bodes well with the playoffs around the corner.
"Important that we understand that tight games - games whether you're even, up or down, you have to stay the course and maintain your focus in terms of playing the right way," MacLean said. "Credit to our guys in the last couple of games of managing to even the score and then move on. Obviously, we have to play a good 60 minutes tonight, but we have to get ready for the idea that we're still playing 5-on-5 when that buzzer hits."

That, obviously, has been a real strength for the Flames this year. They've consistently been a Top-3 possession team and are currently second - league wide - in generating high-danger scoring chances, with more than 55% of them over 81 games, 5-on-5.
Head Coach Darryl Sutter drilled home that point in his postgame address last night.
"Little things are the difference," he explained. "Faceoffs. Penalties. Difference in the game.
"One point."
The Flames were the better team 5-on-5 last night, but were unable to kill off either of Minnesota's two powerplay chances.
On the flip side, the Flames were a bit flat on four looks with the advantage.
Certainly, that will be a focus for the group tonight.
If they stay out of the box, get everyone involved in the game, and stick to what they do best (puck possession, shot volume and a committed, five-man checking style), they should have success.
Most importantly, they'll be as prepared as you can possibly be before hitting the dancefloor next week.
"We were coming into (the road trip) with the mind that we wanted to play playoff hockey," MacLean said. "There were moments where we did, but we have to make sure that that's a consistent theme, all the way through tonight's game.
"We want to play our game and make sure that we're good. There was some good emotion when we were in Nashville - it was less emotional in Minnesota, obviously - but we want to make sure that we're ready to go, both physically and mentally tonight."