(SportsNetwork.com) - The Calgary Flames hope to avoid losing ground in the Western Conference playoff race on Thursday night when they attempt to record their first home victory over the Philadelphia Flyers in 14 years.
The Flames are in the midst of a tight race in the West and have hurt themselves a bit by following up a 5-0-1 run with back-to-back regulation defeats. Their 4-0 loss to the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday has them a point back of both the Los Angeles Kings and Winnipeg Jets for a spot in the postseason.
Calgary is just back of Los Angeles for third place in the Pacific Division and behind Winnipeg for the second wild card spot in the West. All three teams have 12 games remaining and the Kings are not in action tonight, while the Jets are hosting the Blues.
Calgary hopes Winnipeg suffers a similar fate as it did on Tuesday, when St. Louis got 25 saves from Brian Elliott and two goals off the stick of Alexander Steen to hand the Flames a loss.
Jonas Hiller allowed three goals on 25 shots as the Flames lost the opener of a five-game homestand.
"They played quite a game," said Flames coach Bob Hartley said of the Blues. "That's probably the best team, the deepest team, that we've played lately."
Hartley's club will look to rebound tonight and snap a five-game home losing streak to the Flyers, who haven't lost in Calgary since March 22, 2001. Philadelphia has won nine of the past 11 as the visitor in this series and six of the last nine encounters overall.
The Flames did snap a three-game series losing streak to the Flyers with a 3-2 overtime win on March 3 in Philadelphia. Jiri Hudler scored at the 1:23 mark of OT and Karri Ramo made 35 saves.
Hiller, though, could get the start tonight and is 3-1-1 versus the Flyers with a 2.54 goals against average and .924 save percentage in five meetings.
Though the Flyers have had success in Calgary, they come into this matchup having just about assured themselves they will miss the 2015 postseason. Philadelphia has gone 1-3-3 in its past seven games and is 10 points out of a wild card spot with 10 games to play.
Philadelphia's inability to win on the road has plagued the club all season, with Tuesday's 4-1 setback to the Vancouver Canucks dropping the Flyers to 9-19-9 as the guest. The Canucks broke that game open with a pair of goals from Alexandre Burrows in the third period just 17 seconds apart.
Michael Raffl tallied the lone goal for Philadelphia and Steve Mason made 31 saves in defeat.
"You can't make mistakes on the road, especially against a team like this," said Raffl.
Mason made 23 saves in the home loss to the Flames on March 3, falling to 5-4-4 against them with a 2.97 GAA and .892 save percentage.
Philadelphia, which wraps a four-game road on Saturday in Edmonton, may have defenseman Michael Del Zotto back in the lineup tonight. He has missed the previous six games with an upper-body injury and has amassed nine goals and 26 points in 54 games this season.
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