[News Roundup] Playoffs! - April 10, 2017

[MissTeeks]

Flames clash with Ducks in first-round NHL playoff series

http://www.calgarysun.com/2017/04/10...playoff-series

It came down to the wire, but the Calgary Flames now know what they’ve suspected for at least a week.
Their first-round opponents in the NHL playoffs are the Anaheim Ducks, who dispatched the Los Angeles Kings 4-3 in overtime Sunday and captured their fifth straight Pacific Division title.
The Flames, who wrapped up their regular season with a 3-1 loss to the San Jose Sharks at SAP Center, finished in the first wild-card spot in the Western Conference with a 45-33-4 record.
“We’re playing a really good team that’s deep and has lots of experience and is going to be a great challenge for us,” Flames general manager Brad Treliving said Sunday night after the dust settled. “But that was going to be the case no matter who we faced. It’s so hard to get to the playoffs and they’re all good teams when you get there.
“We’re going to get to work (Monday) and get prepared and get ready to play a real good team.”

“The playoffs are a whole different animal,” Treliving said. “You play these teams enough during the regular season that you know all about them. You know them, they know you. In playoffs, the focus is on yourself. To me, we’ve gotta focus on what we do and trying to do it to the best of the abilities and compete hard and execute.
“We have to be more focused on what we’re doing than what everyone else is doing.”

Tuesday’s loss, however, was a playoff preview. The third period featured 96 penalty minutes including a scrap between Josh Manson and Mark Giordano after Cam Fowler was injured on a collision with the Calgary captain.
“After that play, I guess both teams were pretty fired up and going after each other,” Giordano had said, adding he had no intent to injure Fowler. “I thought our guys did a great job of stepping up and standing up for each other out there.
“And that’s how playoffs is going to be. Things are going to happen, and we have to be there for each other.”

Playoff position looks beak ... er, bleak for Flames

http://www.calgarysun.com/2017/04/10...eak-for-flames

And so, in the end, the Calgary Flames get the worst draw possible to open the playoffs.
The Anaheim Ducks – a team that has dominated the Flames the last decade – will host the Flames Thursday.
And they’ll do so in a building the Flames haven’t won in since a playoff win in 2006.
It gets worse.
The Ducks have won nine of their last 10 meetings as part of a matchup that saw the Ducks go 4-1 against the Flames this year.
They’re bigger, they’re meaner, they’re more experienced, they’ve won five straight division titles and they are the ones who easily disposed of the Flames two years ago in the second round.
Did we mention the Ducks haven’t lost a regulation game in their last 14 outings and are 8-0-1 at home in their last nine?
But for a Flames team counted out by most at several points in the season, why should it be any other way?
From a Fames perspective, the stage is now set for the perfect turnaround.
A chance to prove everyone wrong once again this season – something that seems to motivate this bunch.

“Obviously we weren’t happy with the hit,” added Kevin Bieksa, who can now brace for another war with Micheal Ferland, who battled the veteran around in 2015 when he was a Canuck.
“You saw our reaction. We’re a team that sticks up for each other. That’s always been one of our M.O.s. We’re a physical team. We care about each other and we care about Cam.”
And they have every reason to be confident against the Flames.
“We know they’re a good team, but we played well,” said Bieksa after their last meeting. “If we’re playing the way we can play, we’re a tough team to beat. We beat them in their rink and beat them in our rink. Going into the playoffs, we know if we find ourselves playing them, it’ll be a tough series, but we know, right now, how to beat them.”

Flames fans can find plenty of hope in the stellar play of Brian Elliott and the entire team the second half of the season, finishing 11 points behind the Ducks.
There’s depth up front, cohesiveness at the back, leadership in spades and a cast of characters in that room that deserve endless credit for turning things around after their horrible start.
In clinching the division title late Sunday night, the Ducks may also have lost their hottest player, 30-goal scorer Patrick Eaves, who left the game with an undisclosed injury.
The question is, can the Flames handle the rough stuff while maintaining focus on their game plan?
They weren’t able to against the Kings when Matthew Tkachuk stirred the pot a few weeks back.
They openly admitted that.
They’ll have to learn pretty quick.
Or else this could be as lopsided as the series season suggests it will.

Flames captain Mark Giordano pumped for first playoff game since 2007

http://www.calgarysun.com/2017/04/09...ame-since-2007

There seems to be a bone of contention between the coach and the captain.
Fear not, fans, this is nothing to fret about.
Calgary Flames bench boss Glen Gulutzan lights up with genuine glee at the mention of what this spring must mean to heart-and-soul sort Mark Giordano, knowing – like the rest of Cowtown – the gut-wrenching details of a personal playoff drought that has spanned nearly a decade.
“I might be more excited than he is,” Gulutzan beamed. “I don’t know, but it feels that way as a coach.”
Oh yeah?
“Uh … I don’t know about that,” Giordano responded. “I’m excited. I’ve been in a lot of situations, but playoffs is different and I’m looking forward to that challenge of bringing your game to another level.”

Johnny Gaudreau, we’ve been led to believe, was fuelled almost exclusively by Skittles.
If he was even half as rambunctious as he is now, Matthew Tkachuk must have back then been a regular at elementary-school detention.
Now 33, both a dad and workhorse defenceman and having logged 673 regular-season outings at hockey’s highest level, Calgary’s captain has learned a lot along the way.
“My first few years, you take it for granted because you’re in and you get some games,” said Giordano, one of several regulars rested in Saturday’s 3-1 loss to the Sharks in San Jose. “Then, with injuries and stuff, you know how it’s worked out for me for the last bunch of years. It’s not been good.
“As you get older, you really do feel that you only have so many seasons left to get in and have a chance at it, and that’s how I feel.”

Finally.
“To bring your game up a level but be able to relax in those situations and play, it’s a special talent, and I’m looking forward to challenging myself,” Giordano said. “I like to think that I like playing in those intense games, those pressure-filled games. I’m not saying there’s not going to be nerves and all that going in. For sure, there will be.
“But I like our team, I like our depth and I like the guys and the mindset we have.”
His head coach likes – scratch that, loves – the thought of having a healthy, hungry No. 5 as the backbone of his blue-line brigade and the undisputed leader in the locker room.
“You’re going to see the competitors come out now, and he’s a high-level competitor,” Gulutzan said. “I’m excited to see that.”
More excited than Giordano?
Don’t get them started.

FLAMES & DUCKS SET FOR FEISTY FIRST ROUND BATTLE

https://www.nhl.com/flames/news/flam...le/c-288630004

As owner/operator of his very own Tunnel of Death (retreating down the boards, angling off his prey, inching closer, closer, closer, before … splat!), Robyn Regehr figures the Flames can conquer their personal Chamber of Horrors.
"Personally,'' says the rollickingly-robust retired defenceman, looking ahead to Round 1 of the 2017 Stanley Cup playdowns, "I love the match-up with Anaheim.
"First of all, I don't like Anaheim.
"Second, I think it'll be good for the Flames to have to face the beast right in Anaheim. It'll bring out the best in them."

Regehr certainly hasn't forgotten. He notched the last of his three career playoff goals that particular night.
"In playoffs,'' reminds Regehr, a Stanley Cup winner modelling L.A. Kings' trendy black and silver in 2014, "you can throw the spread sheets and tendencies out the window.
"Playoffs are an entirely different animal. Especially the first round. That's why you see so many upsets and such great hockey in the first round.
"If there was ever a time to get rid of a stigma, to get that gorilla or Godzilla or whatever it is in regards to that building in Anaheim off their backs, playoffs would be it."

Centre Joel Otto, a linchpin part of Calgary's '89 title team here, doesn't view past history as a decisive factor in what lies ahead.
"I watched the last game in Anaheim and I thought they outplayed 'em,'' says the Calgary Hitmen assistant coach. "They're saying the right things and I think they're got enough new guys who don't think about any kind of streak.
"It's always brought up - not to blame the media, it's a stat that won't go away - but to them I'm sure it doesn't mean a lot.
"If they feel they match up well in their heads and their hearts, believe they can play 'em tough, that's great."

The iconic Lanny McDonald agrees.
"All the pressure,'' reasons No. 9, "will be on Anaheim anyway.
"If you ever went in there and snapped 'em in that first game? Think of the pressure they'd be under then. Then they'd be the ones answering questions.
"So I don't mind the match-up at all. I know everybody would've been thrilled to see a Calgary-Edmonton series.
"I guess we can save that for Round 2.
"I certainly wanted them to avoid Chicago right off the bat. Even though they've got all those rookies, they just have the playoffs down pat, are built for this time of year.
"Just too dangerous.
"Look at their defence corps: as good as you'll find.
"With Anaheim, there's more animosity already stored up. Especially after the last couple times they played. That bodes well heading into the playoffs. You don't like each other right off the get-to, and the fact the guys answered the bell when all the rough stuff started - in fact they were going right after it and probably initiated as much as the Ducks did - makes it perfect."

"I'm not in the dressing room, so I don't know what goes on day-to-day,'' says Otto, "but I'm here with Nieuwy (Joe Nieuwendyk) at this event (Gordie Howe CARES) this weekend and I know he thinks the world of Glen Gulutzan.
"Sometimes it takes time to implement new ideas, new systems and Glen, Dave (Cameron), Paul (Jerrard) along with Marty (Gelinas) stuck with it and it's gotten turned around.
"This is a good, exciting young group.
"Playoffs is all about playing for each other and going through the wall for each other and I'm sure this team has those attributes."

"As a series,'' says Regehr enthusiastically, "it has a lot of things in play.
"You have the Flames inability to win in their building. Divisional rival. Bad blood. All the stuff that went on the last game in here and then back there.
"It's intense anyway. Playoffs only amplifies intensity.
"Don't sell the Flames short.
"I don't just think it'll be a good series. I think it'll be a great series."

TRELIVING, FLAMES EAGER TO FACE ANAHEIM

https://www.nhl.com/flames/news/trel...im/c-288636518

"Hey, they're a really good, veteran team,'' said Treliving of Calgary's first-round playoff foe. "Lots of experience. We know what we're up against. You go into these series, though, the focus has to be on what we do well.
"We can't try to match someone else's game. We know they're battle tested and they've been through it. We know what they're all about. You've got to game plan and those types of these things but when you spend a whole lot of energy worrying about other players and what they do …
"We've gotta play fast. We've got some people who've been through it but it's still a fairly young group. You can talk about it, tell them about it, but until they're involved in it, get a feel for the intensity, they don't know.
"As I talk about all the time: The rink will shrink. There's no time, no space, so you have to create those things as best you can.
"The playoffs go up and down in terms of momentum swings, so when those swings go against us, we've got to push it back, steal it back.
"To me, a lot of this stuff is more mental than physical."

The Win, a minimum of one game in a building that has been as welcome as the Amityville Horror house for over 11 winters, dating back to a playoff tilt in the spring of 2006.
"(We're) going to get asked about it a thousand times?'' sighed Trelviing. "But whenever it was (we) last won in there, some of our guys were still in short pants."
He's not worried about history. He's intent on making some.
"Our guys are not responsible for those things that happened in the past. We're responsible for what happens from this moment, and moving forward.
"Whether you've had a good season or a poor season, we're at zero now. During the regular season if we're going through a tough stretch we always talk about wiping the slate clean. That's the beauty of this time of year - that slate is literally clean now.
"We all start even Thursday night."

And only two years ago, of course, Disney's former darlings eliminated the improbable Flames in five games in Round 2. The series-clinching OT winner came via the nefarious Perry, sitting, predictably, in goalie Karri Ramo's lap while prodding the puck over the line 2:26 into overtime.
"I don't really look at it as why we're better equipped to play Anaheim now,'' countered Treliving, "but I do think we're deeper.
"The way we play is a little different. The personnel is a little different. I just think we're better prepared.
"Now you can think that, talk that, expect that, but you've still got to go out and do that.
"That's what it is now. We know it's going to be really, really hard. No matter who you play."
"The great thing about playoffs is that this is time you make your legacy. There is no greater compliment you can pay anyone in this sport, in any sport, than to say: 'He's a playoff-type player.'
"You earn your living through 82 games, you earn your legacy in the playoffs.
"I know our guys are anxious for the challenge."

[FanIn80]

Originally Posted by MissTeeks

Playoff position looks beak ... er, bleak for Flames

http://www.calgarysun.com/2017/04/10...eak-for-flames

Pretty sad when you can tell it's an Eric Francis article just by reading the title.


Love the roundup, MissTeeks. Thanks!