Colorado @ Calgary preview

Last Meeting ( Jan 9, 2019 ) Colorado 3, Calgary 5

The Calgary Flames have posted only two 50-win seasons and the first time, which occurred 30 years ago, ended with the team hoisting the Stanley Cup. The Flames would like to see history repeat itself as they enter the postseason as the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference and will host the Colorado Avalanche in Thursday night's opener of their first-round series.

Although Calgary returned to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2003-04, it will be making only its third playoff appearance in 10 seasons and looking to become the first Canadian franchise to win hockey's ultimate prize since Montreal in 1993. "We are happy with our group but we know it is going to ramp up in the next week, week and a half," Flames captain Mark Giordano said this week. "We've been pretty consistent all year. Our style of play and our details is what helps us every night. We have a lot of depth." The Avalanche dropped all three meetings to Calgary this season but showed their mettle in snagging the second wild card by running off a 10-game point streak (8-0-2) down the stretch despite injuries to two of their top forwards. "I loved our habits and determination down the stretch," coach Jared Bednar said. "So we should be confident. We know we are playing a real good opponent and there are going to be challenges. "I think we are in a good spot and I like what we are doing right now."

TV: 10 p.m. ET, NBC Sports Network, (Altitude), CBC, Sportsnet, TVAS (Calgary)

ABOUT THE AVALANCHE (38-30-14): Colorado received some huge news on the injury front when it was announced that second-leading scorer Mikko Rantanen, who established career highs with 31 goals and 87 points, will rejoin the lineup in the series opener after sitting out the last eight games. Rantanen will be on the No. 2 line after spending much of the season on an explosive top unit with captain Gabriel Landeskog and Nathan MacKinnon, who also had career bests with 41 goals and 99 points and ended the season with points in his last seven games. Philipp Grubauer supplanted Semyon Varlamov as the starter down the stretch and sparked the drive to the playoffs by going 7-0-2 over his last nine starts.

ABOUT THE FLAMES (50-25-7): While goaltending is the name of the game in the postseason, offense drives the bus in Calgary, which is the only team to feature at least five players with at least 70 points, led by Johnny Gaudreau with 99. Linemate Sean Monahan, who also set career-high totals across the board with 34 goals, 48 assists and 82 points, missed the final two games due to illness but pronounced himself ready to go while Elias Lindholm and Matthew Tkachuk were right behind with 78 and 77 points, respectively. Coach Bill Peters declined to name his starter in net -- David Rittich had better numbers during the season but veteran Mike Smith posted a 1.94 goals-against average in his last 11 starts.

OVERTIME

1. Flames F Mikael Backlund had two goals and four points in three matchups this season.

2. Grubauer did not face the Flames this season and is 0-1-1 with five goals allowed in two starts against them.

3. Flames F James Neal, who missed more than five weeks late in the season, has 31 goals and 55 points in 100 playoff games.

PREDICTION: Flames 4, Avalanche 3