At the end of the day, we can all agree that the Ducks are an awesome team at the height of their build.
Against Winnipeg when they decided to flex their muscles and win they did. They did the same thing against Calgary. The Flames came out in the first period and played well, but Anaheim flexed their muscles in the second and third and took the game away from the Flames.
It wasn't the refs, it wasn't that the Flames are a terrible or bad team, its just that Anaheim is a top 3 team in the NHL and a certified Stanley Cup favorite.
For the Flames their lack of experience and depth did them in.
On the experience side you could see it and it was clear, the Ducks just made less mistakes then the Flames, and when the Flames made a mistake Anaheim as good teams do made them pay.
As far as the depth, Wills mentioned that when he talked to Brodie last night after the game Brodie stated that the defense was dog tired, they had played a ton of minutes and the Ducks were physical and not having a third pairing that was trusted meant that the Top 4 played a lot more minutes then they should.
Up front I don't doubt that Hudler was injured in the LA game and he's never been the same since. I think Monahan was injured based on how he was handled in the first part of the Kings series, but he also had an experience gap.
Gaudreau was great, but made young player mistakes, most of the young guys did.
But I'm proud of the Flames, they didn't wilt and in the last two periods of game two and in game three and game four played well against a excellent Ducks team.
The Flames management needs to add to their blueline depth next year, Wotherspoon will help, he did some good things with limited ice time, and I hope Seiloff gets on tract because that infection killed his progress. But the Flames need to add some size to the back end and some overall depth.
Up front they have Bouma and they have Ferland but they need more size there too.
Bennett, Gaudreau, Monahan Hudler and Backlund are nice pieces of a top 6 but they need one more top 6 winger.
Gonna be a long off season now.