The Calgary Flames have a pair of recent playoff disappointments to fuel their Stanley Cup hopes.

They both will come to mind when the Pacific Division champions play host to the Dallas Stars in Tuesday’s opener of a first-round playoff series.

Many on this year’s Calgary squad were part of the heavily favored team that won the Western Conference crown in 2018-19 only to be upset by the Colorado Avalanche in the opening round.

Even more were part of 2020’s first-round defeat at the hands of the Stars. The Flames were less than one minute away from taking a commanding 3-1 series lead against Dallas, but the Stars mounted a late comeback and won Game 4 in overtime. They finished off the series in six games and vaulted into that season’s Stanley Cup Final.

“It really hurt a few years ago, and we want to show we’re better than that,” Flames center Mikael Backlund said. “A lot of guys have won it once or twice, and they know what it’s like and want to win it again. I think just overall, (we’re a) more experienced group, and … we have a really good shot here, and we want to take advantage of it.”

The Flames will enter the series as heavy favorites. Calgary is the only NHL team to finish in the top six in both goals for and goals against, while the Stars were the final team to clinch a playoff position.

Even so, memories of 2020 are fresh for the Flames, who won two of three regular-season meetings between the teams this season.

“We’re looking forward to playing a team that’s had our number,” Calgary’s Matthew Tkachuk said. “They’ve been a team that’s had a ton of success and been on some great runs, so I think we’ve got a very big challenge ahead of us.”

This year’s meeting features two of the top lines in the league. Calgary’s top forward unit of Johnny Gaudreau, Elias Lindholm and Tkachuk, who all reached the 40-goal mark, have been receiving plenty of attention as the season progressed.

Dallas boasts a top line that features a 41-goal sniper in Jason Robertson, one of the league’s true breakout players this season, along with Roope Hintz (37 goals) and 81-point producer Joe Pavelski. Whether those lines go head-to-head remains to be seen, but it will certainly make for great viewing.

“I know everyone in this locker room isn’t afraid to play against anyone, so we’ll embrace the opportunity if it’s given,” Robertson said.

Said Stars coach Rick Bowness: “If you’re going head-to-head, your top line still has to create offense. They’re not out there to check, they’re out there to create offense.”

Although the Stars didn’t punch a ticket to the playoffs until late, and didn’t finalize their position as the first wild-card team until their final game (only because the Nashville Predators blew a four-goal lead in their season finale against the Arizona Coyotes), Dallas shouldn’t be overlooked.

Plenty of players remain from the squad that made its surprising playoff run two years ago, and they will be able to rely on that veteran experience once the puck drops on the best-of-seven series.

“We’ve got a lot of confidence in this group when it comes to meaningful games and tough opponents,” forward Tyler Seguin said. “It’s more the lower seeds we have trouble with. We’re excited for this opportunity.”

–Field Level Media

The Winnipeg Jets will conduct a search for their next head coach, but a return for interim coach Dave Lowry hasn’t been ruled out.

In his end-of-season news conference on Monday, general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff said the Jets will interview candidates and that Lowry will be allowed to put his name into contention.

Also unsettled is the status of assistant coaches Jamie Kompon and Charlie Huddy, whose contracts expired. Goaltending coach Wade Flaherty could return.

Lowry took over the team in December when coach Paul Maurice resigned 28 games into the season with a 13-10-5 record.

In 54 games as head coach, Lowry posted a 26-22-6 mark, and the Jets fell out of the Stanley Cup Playoffs after three appearances in the past four years.

No matter who is the coach, the general manager made it clear improvements are expected.

“This group had a lot of expectations in itself. … When you’re at this point here not competing in the playoffs, it’s met with an equal level of low,” he said.

Over the weekend, Cheveldayoff reportedly was given a three-year contract extension, though the team has yet to make it official.

–Field Level Media

The New York Rangers and Pittsburgh Penguins will find out how much experience matters when they meet in an Eastern Conference first-round series.

Coming off a dynamic regular season that significantly exceeded expectations, the Rangers play their first home playoff game in nearly five years Tuesday night when the veteran Penguins visit for Game 1.

Since 2017, New York’s only postseason appearance was a three-game sweep by the Carolina Hurricanes in August 2020 in the Toronto bubble when the league added a qualifying round following a four-month pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Rangers followed that brief appearance by fading down the stretch in the 56-game 2020-21 season and then replaced coach David Quinn with Gerard Gallant, who led the expansion Vegas Golden Knights to the 2018 Stanley Cup final in their inaugural season.

Under Gallant this season, the Rangers won 52 games and finished with 110 points, their highest totals since 2014-15.

They did so by getting standout individual performances from Chris Kreider, Artemi Panarin, Mika Zibanejad and goalie Igor Shesterkin, a quartet with a combined 142 postseason games.

Kreider finished with a career-high 52 goals and led the NHL with 26 power-play tallies. Zibanejad finished with a career-best 81 points, Panarin tied for 11th in the league with a career-best 96 points and Shesterkin led the league in goals-against average (2.07) and save percentage (.935).

“I don’t think experience is all that it’s chalked up to be,” said New York’s Andrew Copp, who appeared in 34 playoff games for the Winnipeg Jets. “They’re just three really good players and their team is very good. Obviously, I think our team is very good, too. I think we’re ready for this challenge. It’s definitely going to be a great series and we’re looking forward to it.”

The Pittsburgh trio Copp is referring to is Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang. They have combined for 486 postseason games to help the Penguins reach the postseason 16 straight times.

The Penguins ended the regular-season with 11 losses in their final 18 games (7-9-2) and finished seven points behind the Rangers, whom they are facing in the postseason for the first time since beating them in five games during the 2016 first round.

Crosby finished with 84 points while injuries limited Malkin to 41 games and Letang notched a career-best 68 points.

“We certainly feel like it,” Letang said of being an underdog. “(It’s) a team I’ve been around for a long time. And when I have a guy like Sid (Crosby), (Evgeni) Malkin, Jeff Carter, (Jake) Guentzel, that core group, you have confidence in what you can bring. If we’re underdogs, fine. That’s all right.”

The Penguins won their third Stanley Cup of the Crosby-Malkin era in 2017 but have not won a postseason series since beating the Philadelphia Flyers in the 2018 first round. In 2019, they endured a first-round sweep to the New York Islanders, lost to the Montreal Canadiens in the 2020 qualifying round and last season fell in six games to the Islanders.

Pittsburgh will be without goalie Tristan Jarry for at least the first two games due to a foot injury. The Penguins are hoping Casey DeSmith can continue to perform effectively after he posted a .933 save percentage in his final seven games.

–Field Level Media