PDF: (1) Anaheim Ducks vs. (3) Calgary Flames (Series 1-0 ANA)

[Koonta]

Winnipeg and Calgary did sneak in as LA and San Jose uncharacteristicly stunk and Calgary and Winnipeg uncharacteristicly over-achieved. No one in the media or most fans would have ever picked Winnipeg or Calgary to make the playoffs. They are not as good as people think they are now. Next season will be telling.

There is zero evidence to support this, and I will speak solely on the Jets as they are the team I follow most closely. 99 points in the toughest division in hockey is not sneaking into the playoffs. The Jets were also in the top quarter of the league in advanced stats and they didn't mortgage their future in making the playoffs. They in fact picked up an extra first round draft pick while others gave theirs away.

The Jets and Calgary are both young teams and will only get better. LA and San Jose are a couple of teams on the downturn, maybe they will rebound but they need to have good offseasons.

I would say Nashville also over-achieved and the Blues need a shakeup and who knows what Vancouver will do.

It's not only Winnipeg and Calgary that are question marks. I don't see how anyone can minimalize what these two teams did this season.

 

[Lunatik]

Outside of their two enforcers Calgary just doesn't have the physicality to handle the Ducks the way they are playing. Particularly on D vs the big forwards, Getzlaf, Perry, Maroon, Kesler, Beleskey.

The Flames have 2 enforcers? That's news to us, as far as we know we have none.

 

[getzforfighting*]

The Flames have 2 enforcers? That's news to us, as far as we know we have none.

Bollig Engelland I assume, but I wouldn't consider Engalland an enforcer

 

[Ace Rimmer]

The Flames have 2 enforcers? That's news to us, as far as we know we have none.

I guess current roster... Bollig (who gets a 2 minute minor seemingly for taking a shift) and one of either Engelland or Ferland I suppose.

Personally I think putting McGrattan into the lineup would be highly amusing, albeit pointless.

 

[Sojourn]

82 games is a good measure , but even though they were 3rd in the Pacific Div. they snuck in by 2 points. The Pacific Division had the skilled Kings and Sharks underachieving and Edmonton and Arizona as 2 bottom teams in the NHL.
Next season San Jose will be retooled and hungry, LA will be rested and angry, the Oilers should be better as will the Coyotes. The Flames will not catch anyone off guard and teams will have a bone to pick with them and not take them lightly. I would bet on it that the Flames miss the playoffs next year and look for sophomore slumps from some of their undersized players.

Three, actually. Calgary owned the tiebreaker.

And when does a team not sneak in? Four points? Five? At what point do you admit they deserve to be there? I'm going to say after 82 games, if they are in a playoff spot. Calgary didn't sneak in, they deserved to be there after 82 games. All season long people said they were going to fall apart and miss the playoffs. They didn't, and now they are in the 2nd round. They deserve credit. You're doing them a disservice.

 

[Ducks Nation*]

It's amusing to me hearing all this "Ducks have an easy path" comments....it's almost like they spent a whole regular season acquiring the #1 seed. I have an idea to those *****ing, win in the regular season.

 

[Ace Rimmer]

It's amusing to me hearing all this "Ducks have an easy path" comments....it's almost like they spent a whole regular season acquiring the #1 seed.

Or forgot about the series vs. Winnipeg...

 

[CraigsList]

Three, actually. Calgary owned the tiebreaker.

And when does a team not sneak in? Four points? Five? At what point do you admit they deserve to be there? I'm going to say after 82 games, if they are in a playoff spot. Calgary didn't sneak in, they deserved to be there after 82 games. All season long people said they were going to fall apart and miss the playoffs. They didn't, and now they are in the 2nd round. They deserve credit. You're doing them a disservice.

Pretty sure he wouldn't want us talking about the Coyotes.

 

[CgyFlamesftw]

Of course it's going to be easy when your missing the best defenseman in the nhl this year, top 2 point production forwards and 2 of your teams energy/top hit players.

 

[kducks]

The way Brian Engblom was talking about them last night, you'd think they already mugged every one of the Jets' mothers, and between shifts were making harassing lewd phone calls to the Flames' grandmothers.

Poor little Johnny had to be protected from them. Here I thought he was a hockey player. Ducks were taking "liberties" as Lindholm got Subbaned and Perry got a stick to the face after scoring. Okay Hartley.

 

[CaptainCrunch67]

Winnipeg and Calgary did sneak in as LA and San Jose uncharacteristicly stunk and Calgary and Winnipeg uncharacteristicly over-achieved. No one in the media or most fans would have ever picked Winnipeg or Calgary to make the playoffs. They are not as good as people think they are now. Next season will be telling.

What a load, its not like the Kings were stumbling in the last quarter, they had a very good record, and Calgary kept pace and then slammed the door in their face.

Next season will be telling, sure, they have an awful lot of young players that you might see slumps from or you might see improvement from.

San Jose stunk because, and sorry San Jose fans, they aren't a good team anymore and they have some serious divisions.

LA has some problems with their team as well, but they are going to be in the picture next year.

the Flames got a lesson last night absolutely and I completely commend the Ducks for it, its how the Flames bounce back in Game 2.

But the Ducks are a Cup favorite, there's no doubt about it, I don't think anyone expects that the Flames are going to overwhelm the Ducks physically, or even beat the Ducks in this series. The hope is that the Flames make the Ducks pay a price for their success. However with the loss of Ferland the Flames don't have a great physical presence to balance their speed game. Wolf can try it but Ferland is a far better skater.

As much as Flames fans are realizing that the loss of Gio is huge, the loss of Bouma looks large as well.

 

[Ducks Nation*]

That 2 hander straight to Lindholm wrists yesterday was quite annoying.

 

[Anglesmith]

That 2 hander straight to Lindholm wrists yesterday was quite annoying.

So was the one to Backlund on the breakaway, but if you're looking at that as a dirty play I think you're grasping at straws. Jones is not a dirty player, he just plays hard. When you play hard, you're going to sometimes take stick infractions, and luckily for you guys, at least the refs saw that one. Thompson boarding Gaudreau was, in my (completely objective ) opinion, the most dangerous play in the game.

Again, though, it was spin by Hartley. Gaudreau was sick and he didn't need to be out there. I'm 99% sure that's the truth.

 

[Carolinas Identity*]

I don't know if I'd call Bollig or Engelland "enforcers" in the George Parros or John Scott sort of way, but they're both definitely something. and it's not "playmaker" or "sniper"

 

[Anglesmith]

I don't know if I'd call Bollig or Engelland "enforcers" in the George Parros or John Scott sort of way, but they're both definitely something. and it's not "playmaker" or "sniper"

They're sandpaper. They're tough. But they are out there to play hockey. I'm fine with calling them enforcers if the word "enforcer" and its meaning is adapted to today's NHL.

 

[nbducksfan19]

So was the one to Backlund on the breakaway

when was this - not saying it didn't happen I just don't recall seeing it.

 

[buggs]

I can see Winnipeg possibly making the playoffs next season, but Calgary could have some sophomore slumps and teams will be ready for both Winnipeg and Calgary. Calgary won quite a few "third period comeback games" this season. They look like the Leafs a few years back when they made the playoffs and were beaten by Boston in game seven. Some fans then thought the Leafs were better than they were, then the next year, reality set in and they were what they were. Calgary are what they are. They overachieved and are not as good as some people think they are. "Johnny Hockey" is fast and skilled, but way too small. And no he is not a Theo Fleury, he's not that tough. He looks like a kid playing against men.

To be fair to Calgary, they have an incredible youth contingent that I'd love to have on my team. I think that separates them considerably from the Leafs in the season you mentioned though I certainly understand the comparison based on the high shooting percentage.

I think the Flames will regress if only because of that abnormally high shooting percentage. They may or may not miss the playoffs next year. But if I was a Flames fan and they missed next year I wouldn't be very upset about it, instead I'd take a long term view and think of Gaudreau/Bennett/Monahan and others five years from now if management can assemble the correct complementary teams.

 

[Anglesmith]

when was this - not saying it didn't happen I just don't recall seeing it.

I'm thinking second period. Colborne sauced it into the middle to put Backlund in alone, and he was going to go backhand and slide it into the empty net. Can't remember the exact time that happened though.

Looking at our GDT, it happened at 8:31pm Pacific Time. So it was in the second period.

 

[HanSolo]

So was the one to Backlund on the breakaway, but if you're looking at that as a dirty play I think you're grasping at straws. Jones is not a dirty player, he just plays hard. When you play hard, you're going to sometimes take stick infractions, and luckily for you guys, at least the refs saw that one. Thompson boarding Gaudreau was, in my (completely objective ) opinion, the most dangerous play in the game.

Again, though, it was spin by Hartley. Gaudreau was sick and he didn't need to be out there. I'm 99% sure that's the truth.

Well by that token, Thompson is absolutely not dirty.

 

[nbducksfan19]

I'm thinking second period. Colborne sauced it into the middle to put Backlund in alone, and he was going to go backhand and slide it into the empty net. Can't remember the exact time that happened though.

Looking at our GDT, it happened at 8:31pm Pacific Time. So it was in the second period.

Got it...and I looked at the thread. Looks like it was pretty much only you complaining about this big hook, which seems weird it it was such a blatant penatly in a playoff game.

Also, the poster was saying the 2 handed tomahawk slash on Lindholm by Jones was annoying, because it was reckless and smelled of an attempt to injure our best defensmen after being blown out. A slash like that in a 6-0 game is dumb and probably out of frustration - I do not see the comparison to a play you felt was hooking?

 

[Anglesmith]

Got it...and I looked at the thread. Looks like it was pretty much only you complaining about this big hook, which seems weird it it was such a blatant penatly in a playoff game.

Also, the poster was saying the 2 handed tomahawk slash on Lindholm by Jones was annoying, because it was reckless and smelled of an attempt to injure our best defensmen after being blown out. A slash like that in a 6-0 game is dumb and probably out of frustration - I do not see the comparison to a play you felt was hooking?

Well, yeah, at that point in the game the Flames board was not fully tuned in to proceedings, unfortunately. I definitely wasn't alone in seeing it, though.

Anyway, yeah, I get that a lot of Ducks fans are reading into it as a dirty play and an attempt to injure. I'm just saying I think you're reading too much into it, just like we would be if we were complaining about Thompson trying to put Gaudreau out of the series with a cheapshot etc. At the end of the day, penalties happen during the course of a game, and they vary in the degree of how dangerous they are.

You didn't like the slash because it had a chance to hurt Lindholm (as slashes do), and I was annoyed by that play with Backlund because it was blatant and took away an easy scoring chance, and the only reason it was missed was because the referee was turning around behind the net at the time and didn't appear to see it. I'm not really annoyed about the Gaudreau play because it was properly called by the ref.

 

[McDonald19]

The Flames have 2 enforcers? That's news to us, as far as we know we have none.

Ok, you have two heavyweight fighters in Bollig and Engelland.

 

[McDonald19]

They're sandpaper. They're tough. But they are out there to play hockey. I'm fine with calling them enforcers if the word "enforcer" and its meaning is adapted to today's NHL.

I don't think enforcer has to mean the same thing as goon.

 

[KelVarnsen]

I was annoyed with the stick to Andersen's face more than. Probably not intentional but dangerous as hell.

I didnt think the game was out of hand really at all. IMO it was much less physical than the Jets series.

 

[McDonald19]

Guarantee Hartley switches the game plan up for Game 2. The Ducks are not the Canucks. You can't match the hitting game of the Ducks. The only thing Calgary has over Anaheim is speed and they need to use it to be effective. Trying to play a hitting game with the Ducks will be team suicide.

That being said, if i was Hartley i would be RIPPING the defense. Not Ramo or Hiller's fault. Defense did not show up.

That's the problem with playing against the Ducks. They can match physicality and speed.