Flames: 25-18-3, 53 points, 4th in the Pacific, 8th in the West, 16th in NHL.
Ducks: 30-10-6, 66 points, 1st in the Pacific, 1st in the West, 1st in NHL.
January 19, 2004. That was the last time the Flames won a game in Anaheim's building.
http://flames.nhl.com/gamecenter/en/recap?id=2003020695
It's been so long that I almost couldn't find the results from that night. Craig Conroy had an unbelievable night recording 4 assists. Goals by Lydman, Gelinas, Saprykin, Clark, and Josh Green for crying out loud, on just 27 shots. Roman Turek made 36 saves on 37 shots. It was so long ago that Sergei Fedorov scored the only goal for Anaheim. Iginla wasn't even in that game for the Flames. Oliwa was given a match penalty for attempt to injure JS Giguere.
Maybe 11 years is enough. Maybe these guys steal 2 points despite being outplayed. Maybe Ortio puts on a Turek-like performance and makes 36 saves. Maybe Gaudreau or Hudler gets 4 assists in one game. I don't know if all that will happen, but I'm saying it now, tonight is the night the streak ends.
The Flames have their swagger back, winning yet another OT game after playing very sound defense despite playing without the puck for nearly 2 full periods. The PK is better, the PP is improving, the goaltending is sharp, the focus on team defense has returned, the offense from defensemen has returned, the transition game is back. All things that were missing during the Flames' losing skid, not to mention the presence of good luck.
Well in the last game in Anaheim, there was also some bad luck for the Flames. Anaheim's first goal was a puck directed off Russell's skate from the corner. The 2nd goal for the Ducks came off a point shot that bounced off several bodies and into the slot right on Perry's stick, where he barely got enough to slide it past Hiller. Their 3rd goal was a puck that was brought out from the corner and just whacked between Hiller's pads, the first of an awful trend of Hiller giving up 1 soft goal a game. 3-0 with 9 minutes left, and the Flames still managed a comeback with a goal from Brodie. A little over 3 minutes left and the Flames have pulled the goalie, which results in a goal for the Flames that was called back due to a Gaudreau kick, not to dissimilar to the one we saw the other night in San Jose. Giordano still managed to make it close when he scores with 25 seconds left and the goalie pulled to make it a 1 goal game. But too little, too late, and some awful luck for the Flames leads to the curse continuing.
I mention all this because I want everyone to realize just how much had to go against us for us to lose that game in Anaheim. This is not some unbeatable matchup for us, and I'll explain why.
Here are the rankings for the Ducks. It will make you wonder how they manage to win so many games. Offense: GF/G-2.74 (13th ranked, one spot behind the Flames), PP-17.9% (17th ranked, 1.1% ahead of the Flames unit which has been struggling for a long time), 5 on 5 F/A ratio-1.06 (ranked 15th, one spot behind the Flames). Defense: GA/G-2.54 (ranked 14th, 2 spots ahead of the Flames, but just 0.02 ahead of them number-wise), PK-80.1% (18th ranked, 8 spots ahead of the Flames and 4.5% ahead, but the Flames PK has been awful all year). The PK can be negated if you don't take penalties, which the Flames do not do a whole lot, unless you're playing the Kings of course
. Flames are 3rd in the league with 8.0 PIM/G, whereas the Ducks are 25th with 11.7 PIM/G. I'll qualify that by saying the are middle of the pack in minor penalties, but are near the league leaders in fighting majors.
So why are the Ducks a full 13 points ahead of the Flames and the top team in the league? They find ways to win. They have 17 games that have gone to extra time. They are 4-2 in OT. They are 7-4 in shootouts. Wanna know how many Regulation/OT wins they have? 23. Want to know how many the Flames have? 22. Both teams are ranked in the middle of the pack in almost every way, yet the Ducks have managed to get more points and have fewer regulation time losses. That's it folks. They are not some big, bad, unbeatable team. They are just clutch…and that comes with experience, and good top 2 centers. Getzlaf leads this team by far with 49 points in 45 games. The next closest is Ryan Kesler's 29 points, tied with Perry and Vatanen. Take those two centers away, they are probably as bad as Arizona.
Roster notes: Flames have placed Smid on IR and removed Ramo from IR. Tyler Wotherspoon was recalled, but will sit tonight. Drew Shore was returned to Adirondack. Jooris is possible for tonight, but I don't think you see him return just yet. Eric Brewer is close to returning for the Ducks, but not sure if you see him in the lineup tonight. Ducks have no other major injuries, but that's new for them since they have already lost 117 man games to injuries so far this year. For comparison, the Flames have lost 106 so far.
Flames
Gaudreau-Backlund-Hudler
Bouma-Monahan-Jones
Raymond-Granlund-Colborne
Bollig-Stajan-Byron
Giordano-Brodie
Russell-Wideman
Diaz-Engelland
Ortio
Ducks
Maroon-Getzlaf-Perry
Beleskey-Kesler-Palmieri
Cogliano-Rakell-Silfverberg
Smith-Pelley-Thompson-Jackman
Beauchemin-Lindholm
Fowler-Lovejoy
Stoner-Vatanen
Andersen
Go Flames Go!!!