Calgary Flames Potential Playoff Scenario: Facing the Anaheim Ducks

The Calgary Flames are currently in the running for a second Pacific division spot (I know, I’m shocked too). With the playoffs soon approaching, a potential opponent would be the Anaheim Ducks.

The Calgary Flames position in the league changes every time I write another one of these “potential playoff scenarios”. Actually, basically everyday the Flames position in the league changes. Even if they’re not playing. That’s how neck-in-neck it is right now.

But right now, a potential scenario we could be seeing in the playoffs is the Flames facing off against the Anaheim Ducks. Right now, the Flames are in the first wildcard spot while the Ducks are in the second Pacific Division spot. However, with a Flames win tonight, the Flames could jump to third in the Pacific Division.

We have already put out a few other “playoff scenarios”, involving the Minnesota Wild here, involving the San Jose Sharks here, and finally, involving the Edmonton Oilers here.

Highly probable scenario?

Like I said, the Western conference looks different basically everyday. But, if the Calgary Flames keep up their record as of late and the Edmonton Oilers keep up their record, the Flames and Ducks have a high chance of meeting each other in that first round.

I’m partly okay with meeting the Ducks in the first round and here’s why:

1. I hate the Ducks and would love to see the Flames get revenge on this team from the 2014-2015 season
2. The Flames have been one of the best teams in the NHL as of late
3. It would be a fun first round battle since these two teams don’t really like each other a whole lot

But there are also reasons why I would be worried:

1. The Ducks make it to the playoffs quite often and generally do pretty well
2. The curse of the Honda center (we’ll get into that later)

Now, how we’re going to talk about this is we’ll look at the games these teams have played, look at how each team has been doing lately, then look at the curse of the Honda Center. The Flames and Ducks have already met three times this season where the Ducks won two meetings and the Flames won one. They still meet two more times before the end of the season. Let’s look at the games they’ve played.

Game #1: November 6th, 2016

In this first meeting, the Anaheim Ducks won 4-1 over the Calgary Flames. A big part of this were the Flames’ special teams. Let’s keep in mind that at this point, the Flames special teams were some of the worst in the NHL. For lack of better words, they sucked on the powerplay and sucked on the penalty.

In this game, the Ducks went 2/3 on the PP and the Flames went 0/2 on the PP. This was also when the Flames goaltending wasn’t exactly the best. Chad Johnson was in net and stopped just 17 of 21 shots. The Flames, however, out-shot them for most of the game, getting 26 shots on goal.

There were also quite a lot of penalties in this game. I don’t think these players like each other a lot, hey? The Flames had 22 PIM while the Ducks had 20. There were two fights in this game and two times where roughing calls were given to both parties.

This was actually the first game where rookie Matthew Tkachuk registered his first NHL fight. I mean, I’m a little surprised it took him 12 games to do so, but hey.

Related Story: Flames Rookie Matthew Tkachuk Is Settling Right In

Now, this game was particularly exciting for the Flames because of the curse of the Honda Center (which we’ll get into in a little bit). But basically, the Flames have not won a regular season game at the Honda center since 2004.

But why this game in particular was interesting was, before this, the Flames had 23 consecutive losses at the Honda Center, which was tied for an NHL record. One more loss and they would officially have that NHL record. Well, as we now know, the Flames now hold the record for most consecutive losses in one building.

Moving on.

Game #2: December 4th, 2016

Now THIS was a fun game. Not only did the Calgary Flames beat the Ducks, which come on, that’s always fun. But they took this one 8-3. This game in particular was quite exciting because it was the first game back for Johnny Gaudreau after missing 10 games because of a fractured finger.

And boy, did he have an explosive game back. He scored just two minutes into the game and had a lot of energy the entire game. Welcome back Johnny.

Now, the second period of this game is where things got a little fun. The Flames managed to score five goals in 6:04, including two powerplay goals. And this was back when not only was the Flames PP quite horrible, but their home PP was even worse. I think up until this point, they had only scored one PP goal on home ice. And that came in the game before.

This game was in the middle of a Flames six-game win streak, a streak that was their highest in the season, I mean, up until just recently when they had that 10-game win streak. And it was also the first time the Flames managed to climb up to, not only a playoff spot, but the second Pacific Division spot.

But going back to this game, the Flames went 2/3 on the PP and scored a short-handed goal. The Ducks went 1/4 on their PP. But again, this was at the start of the Flames special teams getting exponentially better.

In this game, eight different Flames had goals, 13 different players had points, and eight players had multi-point games. In fact, only five skaters didn’t have any points. Like I said, an explosive game this was. And an exciting one too.

Next.

Game #3: December 29th, 2016

Now we get to the last game these two teams have played so far this season. And the Anaheim Ducks decided to get revenge. Now, why this game semi-sucked for me is because I was actually at this game. And I spent money, too! But it wasn’t just the loss.

I was also at the game against the Tampa Bay Lightning earlier in the month. You know, when the Flames had that six-game win streak? Yeah well that was their seventh game and they lost 6-3. After the Anaheim game, I was starting to think that I’m bad luck.

Disclaimer: I’m not, I was also at the game where the Calgary Flames shut out the Montreal Canadiens *Sunglasses emoji*.

Calgary Flames

Anyways, back to this game. The Flames managed to open up the scoring in the first period and it would remain 1-0 after 20 minutes of play. But then something happened and the Ducks scored three unanswered to take this one 3-1.

The Flames’ special teams they were showing earlier in the season were starting to show again. And their indiscipline was also showing. The Ducks went 2/6 on the PP that night and the Flames went 0/4. Chad Johnson was also not being his usual December Chad Johnson self, and he let in three goals on 25 shots.

If we get into the nitty gritty, if the Flames managed a win in regulation in this game, they’d have three points on the Ducks with the same amount of games to take that second Pacific Division spot. Right now, they’re one point back.

But let’s not think about that because it makes my head hurt.

But there you have it, this is what the three games they’ve played so far have looked like.

Still two more games

The Calgary Flames and Anaheim Ducks still play two more games this season and those could ultimately decide who each team will be playing in the playoffs. One will be at home for the Flames and one will be at the Honda Center (shudders). This will be good for the Flames because they may be able to beat this Honda Center curse before the playoffs start in case they do face off against the Ducks.

Now, what is this Honda Center curse?

Let’s get into that.

Honda Center Curse

This curse. I could cry everyday about this curse, but who has time for that? In THIS economy?

The Honda Center is a curse on the Calgary Flames. This is the home arena for the Anaheim Ducks and the Flames have not won a regular season game in this arena since January 19, 2004. That’s 24 games.

Related Story: The Decade Long Curse of the Honda Center

The Flames actually beat an NHL record with this loss because it marked the 24th consecutive loss in one arena. They were recently tied with the Pittsburgh Penguins with 23 consecutive losses in one building, but like I mentioned, they beat it. Wow, the Flames beating records? And who says this isn’t a good team?

After that 24th consecutive loss in December for this season, it marked the hashtag #LastTimeFlamesWonInAnaheim where people went to Twitter and posted events and moments of things that happened the last time the Flames won in Anaheim.

The Flames also haven’t won a playoff game in Anaheim since 2005. Of course, this includes the 2014-2015 season when they met the Ducks in the second round, but failed to win any games at the Honda Center. Stupid curse.

With two games left against the Anaheim Ducks this season, one being at the Honda Center, the Flames still have a chance to break this curse before the playoffs start. Before they may potentially have to face the Ducks.

But the Flames have been on quite the roll lately, so there is a chance they could win at the Honda Center before the playoffs start (fingers crossed).

Let’s look at how well these two teams have been playing lately.

How they’re playing

Since January 26th, right before the All-Star weekend, the Calgary Flames have been one of, if not the best, team in the league. They have the best record since then and were recently the hottest team in the NHL with their 10-game win streak.

However so far in March, the Ducks are right there are on the Flames tail for being a hot team. The Flames in March are 7-2-0, the Ducks are 7-2-1.

However, no goaltender has been better and more confident than Brian Elliott lately. He was recently on a hot-streak with an 11-game personal win streak, which tied a Flames franchise record with Mike Vernon, that was set in 1989. Elliott in his last 12 games is 11-1-0. He’s been a big factor in this push by the Flames and a big reason why they’re currently at a 99% chance of making the playoffs.

However, again, somebody right on his tail is Ducks goaltender Jonathan Bernier. He’s 8-2-1 in his last 11 games and a big reason why the Ducks have been able to stay in the second Pacific Division spot.

So who has the upper-hand?

Let’s take a look at who’s been the better team as of late and who would ultimately have the upper-hand in the playoffs.

Forwards – Calgary

The Calgary Flames have had two first lines, basically ever since Micheal Ferland joined that top line with Sean Monahan and Johnny Gaudreau. And along with their second line, the 3M line, who has been the Flames most consistent and best line all season long. This with their fourth line, who is always on the push in the forecheck, you can’t bet against these forwards lately.

Defence – Calgary

Since the acquisition of Michael Stone, the Flames have been incredible. Up until their last game where they lost against the Washington Capitals, they hadn’t lost with Stone in the lineup. They are 10-1-0 now with Stone in the lineup.

Now with a legitimate top 4 on their blue-line and no anchor to bring down TJ Brodie (cough cough Dennis Wideman cough cough), AND with Dougie Hamilton completely finding his game this season, it’s also hard to bet against this blue line.

Special teams – Anaheim

Unfortunately for the Flames, their special team woes continue to haunt them. They’ve had just one PP goal in their last five games. They did for a while have a great PP run in December, but that’s died down.

Since the start of February, the Ducks are last on the PP, BUT, for some reason, the Ducks seem to always do well on the PP when facing the Flames so I’ll have to give that one to them.

Also since the start of February, the Ducks are one of the best teams on the penalty kill, and going against the Flames not-so-great powerplay lately, we have to give this category to them.

Goaltending – Calgary

As well as Bernier has been doing lately, you also can’t bet against Brian Elliott. And Elliott’s 11-game win streak didn’t just randomly pop out of nowhere and he’s all of a sudden a good goalie. He’s continuously been one of the best goaltenders in the league over the last five years.

Also since December 16th, out of all goaltenders, Elliott has the best record in the league, the 3rd best GAA, and 4th best sv%. He’ll be an x-factor for the Flames.

Related Story: Is Brian Elliott the Calgary Flames X-Factor?

Overall – Tied

Normally based on these where the Flames have the upper-hand, I’d pick them overall. However, knowing the Flames luck and growing up as a Flames fan, you learn to never get your hopes up. And knowing how well the Ducks always play against Calgary and with the Honda Center curse, the Ducks could end up having the upper-hand after all.

We may just have to wait and see until these last two games with the Flames and Ducks to see who could have the advantage.

Next: Battle of Alberta on the horizon in mid-April?

Hopefully if the Flames can win at the Honda Center just once before the playoffs start, this ‘curse’ can leave and they won’t have that in the back of their minds.

It’d also be nice for the Flames to get revenge on the Ducks for 2015.