The New Jersey Devils hosted the Calgary Flames Monday night in what was a must win game for the Devils. With their playoff hopes resting on running the table to end the season, the Devils could not afford a loss at home to the Calgary Flames.
Unfortunately for the Devils this game did not go as planned. Scoreless through the first two periods, just 23 seconds into the third period Mark Giordano scored what would be the game winning goal for the Calgary Flames on the power play. Giordano received a pass from Jiri Hudler and Cory Schneider never got a handle on the blast from the point. The big story in this one was Kari Ramo. The Calgary netminder made 31 saves on the evening to record his second shutout of the season. Ramo has been handed the number one goaltending position in Calgary, and he has played quite well for Calgary. Ramo is 16-13-4 on the season with a .914 save percentage.
The Calgary Flames have been play some gritty hockey since the Olympic break, and as a result they have seen a strong finish to their season. The hope in Calgary is that with a few key additions in the off-season, the Flames will be right back in the playoff conversation for 2014-15.
With the loss the Devils are remain three points back of the Columbus Blue Jackets in the Eastern Conference wild card race. With only three games remaining, New Jersey will likely be sitting on the outside looking in come playoff time.