Flames vie to even series, end road skid in Anaheim
The Calgary Flames are hoping to leave southern California with a split of the first two games of their Western Conference first-round playoff series with the Anaheim Ducks.
Before returning to western Canada, they'll first try once more to snap a skid that's been built over nearly 11 years and is more curse-like with each loss.
Seeking its first win in Orange County since 2006, Calgary will try to avoid falling in a two-game deficit when it meets Anaheim on Saturday night at the Honda Center.
In Game 1 on Thursday night, the Flames held a 2-1 lead midway through the second period on goals by Sean Monahan and Sam Bennett. Anaheim, though, responded with tallies from Jakob Silfverberg and Rickard Rakell less than four minutes apart later in the period, and John Gibson made 12 of his 30 saves in the third to lift the Ducks to a 3-2 win.
Anaheim has lost two straight Game 2 matchups but facing the Flames in California may prevent that skid from increasing. In the regular season and postseason, Anaheim has won 28 straight over Calgary, outscoring the club by a nearly 2-to-1 margin (107-54).
"We're not going out there expecting to shut them out and win the series 4-0," Ducks defenseman Kevin Bieksa told the Calgary Herald. "If it takes six or seven games, we'll do whatever it takes to win the series."
Captain Ryan Getzlaf, who had a power-play goal and an assist to become the first player in franchise history with more than 100 points in the playoffs, indicated there would be no time to celebrate winning just the opener.
"We talk about home ice and battling for it, but it's only home ice if you use it," he told the Ducks' official website. "We got our win (Thursday) and we're going to move on to the next one."
Getzlaf has registered at least one point in 25 of the 28 games during the home winning streak over the Flames, posting 12 goals and 33 assists.
If the Flames have any hope of ending the losing streak, they'll need to keep their heads in the game from the opening faceoff to the final whistle. Rakell, who is the Ducks' leading goal-scorer in the regular season with a career-high 33, broke the 2-all tie when he finished off a three-on-none rush caused when all five Flames went off for a line change at the same time.
"That was a big game-changer," Calgary coach Glen Gulutzan said after losing in his playoff coaching debut. "I think there was twice in the game where we stopped playing for a second, thinking it was icing, then hesitated coming to the bench, and it cost us.
"That's something we talked about -- line changes -- at length over the last couple of days because those details are important."
Improved play in net would also help.
Prior to the series, Brian Elliott conceded that the Flames needed to win one of the first two games and that the Honda Center was "a tough building to play in." He thinks Calgary can turn things around.
"It's tough when we give them everything," Elliott told the Flames' official website. "Two power-play goals and a bad change. It's not like they really earned it that much. We kind of gave it to them. We clean things up and we'll take care of business."
Elliott stopped 38 shots in Game 1, but lost his fourth straight playoff game in which he's registered a 3.59 goals-against average. Including the postseason, Elliott has lost nine straight starts (0-7-2) to the Ducks while recording a 3.42 GAA.
Game 3 is scheduled for Monday night at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary.
