The last game of the regular season on paper looked like a ho hum affair, the second place Flames versus the winless Wild. But, with the Blues win in the first game of last nights double header this contest took on interesting meaning. A Flames win clinches 2nd place but a Wild win would end their winless streak and force the Flames to face the high scoring offense of the Penguins in the opening round of the playoffs.

On the ice we go… the Flames grabbed an early lead when team captain Aarron Johnson scored a power play goal, assisted by Ross Bergen and Mike Hoye. The Wild answered back 1:18 later Jim Keck scoring on a feed from Adam Thibault and Rob Fitzgerald. Less then 2 minutes later though the Flames would take a commanding lead. Mike Hoye scored to make it 2-1, assisted by Stewart Solomon. A mere 40 seconds after that Pete McCarthy buried a juicy rebound to make it a 3-1 lead, assists going to Jared Marshall and Doug Coates.

In the second period the Wild bounced back, Ken Holbrook rushed the loose puck in and scored on the Flames goaltender, Luis Galvao, apparently deflected off a Flames defenseman but reviews were not conclusive. The unassisted goal trimmed the lead to 1 when the Flames once again found themselves on the powerplay and the struck quickly. Alex Garceau scored his league leading 30th goal of the season, a powerplay goal assisted by Sean Locke. But the Wild fought hard determined to make this a game. Jim Keck would get his second of the game cutting the lead to 1 once again, assists going to Dave Santiano and Adam Thibault. With 2:20 left to play the Flames Jared Marshall put the nail in the coffin as he fired a shot beating the Wild goalie 5-hole and putting the Flames up 5-3. The Wild pulled their goalie and got numerous chances in the closing minutes but just couldn’t even the score. Flames win 5-3 clinching the 2 seed and will face the Blues in the opening round of the playoffs.

The Penguins and Maple Leafs will face off in the other playoff game on Thursday night.

With his single point in the game Alex Garceau of the Flames clinched the winter league scoring title, edging out Jim Koehler of the Penguins 58-57.