Calgary Flames Fail to Break Honda Center Curse Before Playoffs

The Calgary Flames fail to break the Honda Center curse before the playoffs start. A win tonight is something they desperately needed.

The Calgary Flames continue to extend their losing streak at the Honda Center. They’re now at 25 consecutive losses, dating back to exactly 13 years ago today, April 4th, 2004. They desperately needed a win tonight against the Anaheim Ducks. A very real playoff scenario right now is a Flames and Ducks matchup where the Ducks would get home-ice advantage.

The Calgary Flames now are officially out of a Pacific Division seed. They’ll be in a wildcard spot. Which means they’ll either be facing the Chicago Blackhawks or whoever’s first in the Pacific Division, which looks like it may be the Ducks.

The Flames managed to open up the scoring with a goal by Mikael Backlund, his first in 13 games. However, the Ducks came back strong and scored three unanswered to take this one 3-1.

Now, there were a LOT of scrums in this game. Especially in the third period. Both teams combined had 96 PIM in the third period.

In total, there were 65 hits this game. 65 HITS. I couldn’t believe my ears when I heard that. A normal amount is maybe around the 20-30 mark in a game. Hm, I’m guessing these two teams don’t like each other too much, hey? As much as I’d hate to face the Ducks in the playoffs because they’re very experienced in the post-season, you can’t help but think of how fun it would be.

Something else I wanted to touch base on was the goaltending tonight. John Gibson, who was in net for Anaheim, was incredible and made some great saves against the Flames. But at the other end was Brian Elliott and he wasn’t his typical Brian Elliott self.

Chad Johnson actually initially got the nod for this game, but 5:19 into the game, there was a switch because Johnson looked to be in discomfort in his leg after an awkward save where he stretched out his leg. He left and he would not return.

Like I said, Elliott wasn’t his typical Elliott self. He let in three goals on just 19 shots. One goal was a very soft one against Kevin Bieksa (boooo) in the second period. A goal Elliott should have had.

But now with Johnson out, and with us not knowing for how long, Jon Gillies will probably get the call to come up for the game on Thursday.

Next: Five reasons the Flames made it to the playoffs

All in all, this was a weak effort on the Flames. They had an incredible first period, but then they seemed to not want the win as bad as the Ducks did and they fell apart.