This opening round battle is the series that fans of the National Hockey League should have their eyes glued to. Both teams visibly do not like each other. The Anaheim Ducks and Calgary Flames combined for over 100 penalty minutes during their game on April 4th. Will that level of physicality spill over into Thursday Nights opener?
If there is ever a series to be in great position to pull off an upset, this is the one. On every major news media outlet that avidly follows the NHL, not too many analysts have picked the Calgary Flames to win this series. Surely, enough there are their reasons not to.
Calgary has to win a game on the road in the Honda Center, a place in which the team has not won a regular season game once since 2004. The Anaheim Ducks dominated the regular season series as well, winning 3 of the 4 matchups. Nobody is expecting the Flames to pull away from this series and onto the second round. But while the Flames are the underdog, they certainly are better than those who people think. Here are three key points to why the Flames can win this series against the Ducks.
The Flames Will Win One Game IN Anaheim
Two years ago, the Calgary Flames came close to ending the ever ending drought of winning a game on the road in Anaheim. It was Karri Ramo who kept the Flames in a tightly knit Game 5, taking a 2-1 lead into the 3rd Period. But the Ducks turned up the heat, tying the game before scoring the series-clinching goal in overtime.
That has really been the closest that this team has come to winning a road game in Anaheim. If the Flames are going to want to potentially meet their provincial rival in the second round, they need to win a game at Honda Center. Plain and simple. No sugar coating that.
Calgary Flames
Brian Elliott and Michael Ferland Will NEED To Be X-Factors
In order to win in the Stanley Cup playoffs, you need to have the ability to stop the puck. Other than timely goaltending, the tight and physical play needs to be elevated as well. The two players on the Flames roster who can provide that spark are Brian Elliott and Michael Ferland.
Flashback to the 2015 Quarterfinals against the Vancouver Canucks, and Michael Ferland made his presence known to the entire Canucks team. He played a physical brand of hockey in those six games, while chipping in with timely goal scoring as well. He was a thorn in Kevin Bieska‘s side, to the point where Kevin Bieksa called Ferland “irrelevant”. Ferland was the furthest thing from irrelevant, sitting on a line with Sean Monahan and that little dynamo named Johnny Gaudreau. Michael Ferland’s game is tailor-made for the playoffs, and the Ducks will provide the physical series that a fearless Ferland will thrive in.
Heres a brief take of what Michael Ferland’s play looked like in the opening round against Vancouver two years ago:
Not only will a more experienced Michael Ferland will be a critical piece to the Flames success, but Brian Elliott as well. The veteran goaltender has found his niche in Calgary. Elliott is playing at a level that has become the norm for him. Elliott posted a 2.29 Goals Against Average to go along with a 0.919 Save Percentage since January 1st. To put that in comparison, Carey Price has similar numbers over that time frame, and he’s not too bad of a goaltender.
Brian Elliott brings in a level of veteran playoff experience that only a select few of Flames goaltenders have boasted. Mike Vernon and Miikka Kiprusoff both have had playoff success, and Elliott has all of the making to follow in their wake. Elliott showed glimpses of his excellence in the St. Louis Blues two first round series wins last year. He was playing at the level that easily could of carried his team to a Stanley Cup Final berth.
Elliott’s current status of play is very reminiscent of his play from last year. Combining with the calming presence and safety blanket he provides to his team, his game is going to be critical to a Flames series win.
Backlund And Monahan Need to Outplay Getzlaf and Kesler
This is the difficult task for the Flames top two centers to perform. As both Ryan Kesler and Ryan Getzlaf are bigger and grittier than Sean Monahan and Mikael Backlund. While the skill sets are there, it will be tough for the two young centers to elevate their game, toppling the two Ducks centers along the way. It will be a difficult task to perform, but the ability for these two players to perform at the highest levels is there. Backlund has been one of the NHL’s best two way centers and arguably the most consistent Flames center all year. While Monahan battled an early season injury, he streaked through the final few months of the regular season to post a 27 goal season. Monahan’s 27 goals led the Flames outright, building on his model of consistency demonstrated over the last few seasons.
Other than battling through the physical grind that will be imposed on the two centers, both players are going to need to win timely faceoffs too. While Monahan and Getzlaf have similar faceoff numbers (around 50%), Ryan Kesler has significantly higher number than Backlund. Ryan Kesler has a high faceoff percentage of around 57%, while Backlund is somewhat lower than that. Backlund is averaging around 48%.
The Flames need to be strong in the faceoff circle, starting with Monahan and Backlund. The Flames will need to win the little battles to defeat the Ducks, starting with faceoffs.
Prediction – Flames in 6 or 7
The Calgary Flames have a very strong chance of winning this series. Putting the critics aside, this team has the ability to pull of an upset in this opening round. In order for the upset to happen, the Flames will need these three major points to help carry them to a first round victory. You can expect that Michael Ferland, Brian Elliott and the other talented Flames players will help this team make sure they advance past this difficult foe. Two years ago is not too long ago. And the experience they gained during that run can help catapult this team to success in the present.
Would be pretty nice too if Johnny Hockey can show some of his magic. Like this from Game 4 in the 2015 Western Conference Semifinals:
There is a good chance the Flames win this series, hopefully in six games. The stage has a setting for this series to go seven games. And if the Flames can get by Anaheim, the likelihood of this team making a run would look ever more clearer.