WINNIPEG Tanner Pearson Jersey , Manitoba — If you had predicted at the beginning of the NHL season that the Winnipeg Jets and Calgary Flames could meet in the Western Conference final in the spring, people would have looked at you like you were crazy.Not the Jets part. They finished second in the league last year with 114 points. But the Flames limped into the final part of the season with two wins in their last 10 games and missed the last wild card spot by 11 points.So, it’s safe to say expectations for this year were somewhat shy of the Stanley Cup.Article continues below ...But after bursting out the gate this season, the Flames have (mostly) maintained their momentum and currently sit in first place in the Pacific Division with 22 wins and 47 points.The only hiccup has been their current three-game losing streak, although to be fair the middle loss was in a shootout to the high-flying Tampa Bay Lightning.Flames captain Mark Giordano is eager to end the slide Thursday night at Bell MTS Place. He and his teammates should have some confidence facing the Jets as they burned them for five first-period goals, chasing starter Connor Hellebuyck in the process, in a 6-3 victory on Nov. 21.“We’ve had a good season to this point,” Giordano told The Calgary Herald after last Saturday’s 3-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues. “Now we’re on a bit of a slide. It’s a big game coming out of the break against Winnipeg. You don’t want to let things like this keep going. We have to get back into the win column as soon as possible.”The Jets are the second-hottest team in the league with a record of 11-2-0 over their last 13 games and sit atop the Western Conference with 50 points, the third-highest total in the league.Critics, however Jonny Brodzinski Jersey Womens , say the Jets have made their hay against the NHL’s lesser lights and have had a easier schedule than most in the first half of the season.The Jets have relied heavily on center Mark Scheifele, who is generating some buzz for the Hart Trophy as the league’s most valuable player, with 22 goals and 49 points in 36 games. That’s good for sixth place and he’s second among all forwards in ice time with 22 minutes, 43 seconds per game.Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff said his linemate and captain Blake Wheeler has played a big role in helping Scheifele’s development since he was chosen seventh overall in the 2011 entry draft.“There is good chemistry certainly with him playing with (Wheeler),” Cheveldayoff told the Winnipeg Sun. “In a lot of ways, Blake is a playmaking winger and (Scheifele is) a shooter. So, the way they play in the offensive zone, they read off each other, they drive, they move their feet Womens Tyler Toffoli Jersey , they compete, and they play hard along the wall. That’s what helps them to play well together.” COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) Hours before his Swedish countrymen were to play for their second straight world championship, Daniel Alfredsson reflected on how his life has changed since he has become a hockey dad. Alfredsson headlined the group of eight 2018 inductees to the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame on the final day of competition in Copenhagen.”You’re never going to get the highs of playing in a world championship or especially the world championship final again,” he said. ”But I’m happy where I’m at.”For the last year, Alfredsson has been away from the NHL, but not far from the rink.”Three of my sons play for the same organization,” he said. ”I coached two of the teams.”I had a really enjoyable time. Learned a lot as well: where to set the bar for the kids at different ages and maturity levels. It was a great experience.”Originally drafted in the sixth round by the Ottawa Senators in 1994, Alfredsson won the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year in 1995-96 and went on to become the franchise leader in goals (426) and points (1,108) in an NHL career that spanned 18 seasons http://www.officialwild.com/authentic-adidas-devan-dubnyk-jersey , 17 of them in Ottawa. He served as captain from 1999 to 2013 and helped the Senators reach the Stanley Cup Final in 2007.Internationally, Alfredsson won Olympic gold with Sweden in 2006 and silver in 2014, along with four world championship medals – silver in 1995 and 2004 and bronze in 1999 and 2001.After finishing his playing career with the Detroit Red Wings, Alfredsson signed a one-day contract to officially retire as a member of the Senators in 2014 and had his jersey number retired by Ottawa in 2016. He served two seasons as a senior adviser of hockey operations with the Senators before stepping away from the team in July.”As long as my kids are involved, I’ll be involved in youth hockey one way or another, as a coach or volunteer or anything,” he said about his plans. ”Professionally, I don’t know. I’ve taken a year off. It’s been nice, but part of me missed the competitiveness. We’ll see what happens.”Asked if he’d heard anything about the future of his fellow Erik Karlsson, a fellow Swede and current captain of the Senators who is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent in July 2019 Eric Staal Jersey , Alfredsson said: ”To me, he says that he wants to stay. But it’s not all in his hands.”Canadian defenseman and current Los Angeles Kings general manager Rob Blake also was inducted into the Hall of Fame on Sunday.One of just 28 members of the hockey’s Triple Gold Club, Blake won a gold medal at the world championship in 1994, a Stanley Cup with the Colorado Avalanche in 2001 and was part of the team that snapped Canada’s 50-year Olympic gold drought in Salt Lake City in 2002. All told, he skated for Canada in three Olympics, four world championships and at the 1996 World Cup of Hockey, as well as playing a management role in two world championships and at the 2016 World Cup.Blake named mentors like Bob Nicholson and the late Pat Quinn as members of the Team Canada brain trust that supported him during his playing days. He supports the return of NHL players to the Olympic stage.”Yes. To me, it was a tremendous experience to be involved in the Village, just like any other athlete,” said Blake. ”That’s probably what I still get asked most about – the Olympics.”Six others also were inducted on Sunday Womens Jared Spurgeon Jersey , including former NHL stars Chris Chelios and Jere Lehtinen in the player category, plus longtime Canadian referee Bob Nadin and France’s second-generation hockey hero Philippe Lacarriere as builders.Denmark’s Jesper Damgaard, who played in 17 consecutive world championships, received the Richard ”Bibi” Torriani award for his outstanding career as a player from a smaller hockey nation and Latvia’s Kirovs Lipmans was named the winner of the Paul Loicq Award for his contributions to international ice hockey.