The story is out on Anaheim-Calgary, as the two most dangerous third period teams collide in Round 2.
The most intriguing part of each game might just be the final 10 minutes of the second period, as each team jockeys to be the one trailing after 40 minutes, like two gentlemen wishing to hold the door for one another.
“Please, go ahead.”
“No, after you.”
“No, no. I insist… .”
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Anaheim staged three, third-periods comebacks during their four-game dismissal of Winnipeg in Round 1. It crushed the Jets mentally. They thought their play had earned them a better shake.
Calgary trailed after two periods of Game 1 and Game 6 vs. Vancouver, and stormed back to win both games. Kris Russell’s long-range bomb with 30 seconds to go in Game 1 stole home ice advantage, and the Flames used that for a four-goal third period in Game 6 to polish the Canucks off at the Saddledome.
Calgary won 10 times this season when trailing at the second intermission, while the Ducks set an NHL record by winning 18 games in which they were behind at some point in the third period.
“I’ve never been a part of a team like this,” said Calgary’s Calder Trophy candidate Johnny Gaudreau. “I mean, we were down 4-0 in Ottawa (on March 8) and came back, scored four goals in the third.”
“They’ve been doing it all year,” concurred Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau on a Sunday conference call. “They’re a team that never quits. The minute you think that you’ve got them, they know how to apply an awful lot of pressure.
“The first time we played them in there this year, we had a 2-0 lead going into the third and they ended up scoring three quick goals. We ended up tying it up but losing in a shootout,” he said. “We know the fact that they never quit. It’s going to be a 60-minute game on both sides, all the time.”
Let’s face it: the Flames are playing with house money, and walk into a classic No. 1 vs. No. 8 seed matchup without an ounce of pressure on them. When the season began, head coach Bob Harley was supposed to last part of the year before being gassed, and the Flames had full permission from their fan base for a 28th place, rebuild season.
Well, today Hartley has a new three-year deal in his pocket and the Flames are among the NHL’s Elite Eight. Jonas Hiller, their expected starting goalie in Game 1, knew only one thing last season at this point: he was on his way out of Anaheim, where he’d lost the starting job en route to a disappointing second round ouster for the Ducks.
“If somebody would have told me a year ago,” Hiller smiled, “that I’m going to play the Anaheim Ducks in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs … it seemed very far away. Now, it is definitely something special.”
Looking at their statistical history, the deck appears to be stacked mightily against the Flames. They entered the playoffs as the West’s eight best club, and haven’t won a regular season game at the Honda Center since 2004 — when it was still known as The Pond of Anaheim.
But dig a little deeper and you’ll see a Flames team with a better regular season powerplay than Anaheim (18.8 per cent per cent to 15.7 per cent), a superior goals per game average (2.89 per game to 2.78), and a stronger goals against average this regular season (2.60 allowed, to 2.70) than Anaheim.
Now, this is Calgary’s first playoff voyage in six seasons, but if Anaheim has playoff experience over Calgary, it is really only experience at losing. The Ducks have made the playoffs in three of the past five seasons prior to this one, yet they’ve only won one round. The heat is on this good team to accomplish something in the post-season, especially with the Kings having won two of the past three Stanley Cups.
Still, with a first-line of perennial Olympians Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry, plus Ryan Kesler coming off a stellar Round 1 centering the second line, Anaheim’s size and depth up front is formidable.
“I watched a couple of their games against Winnipeg. I saw physical games,” said Flames right-winger and Lady Byng finalist Jiri Hudler, who took six games to make an impact in Round 1, mostly erased by the Sedin line. “They’ve got big bodies, big D-men. They like to play physical. We’ll just play our game, get pucks behind them and get after the forecheck.”
In goal, Hiller (.931) came through Round 1 with a stronger save percentage than Ducks starter Frederik Anderson (.924), but he was left off the hook on a lot of rebounds he shot right back into the Calgary slot. Anaheim will have more success against a smaller Calgary defence at accessing those rebounds, so Hiller will have to tidy up his game.
“They have some skill and some size. It’s not for no reason they were first in the Conference,” Hiller said. “They play a puck possession game. We spend almost too much time in our zone (during the regular season), but the longer the year went on we got better and better in trying to defend that, playing in the opponent’s zone.
“The playoffs is always a different story. Those regular season losses don’t count anymore.”
Prediction: I had Calgary beating Vancouver in Round 1, and that might be the first time I’ve been right on the Flames all season long. Time to get back to being wrong again.
Ducks in five.
