Ducks cut short Flames’ jubilation
Raucous affair may serve as a preview of playoffs — and a reminder of 2015 series
This wasn’t the way the Calgary Flames planned to end the weekend.
After clinching a spot in the 2017 NHL post-season on Friday versus the San Jose Sharks, they celebrated with a well-deserved day off Saturday and were back at the Scotiabank Saddledome on Sunday to host the Anaheim Ducks — a team they could very well meet in the first round of playoffs.
And, after Sunday’s 4-3 loss to the same dastardly Ducks (4323-13) that bounced the Flames (44-31-4) out of the second round in 2015, that could prove to be a problem.
The good news? They have another chance to even the score quickly, as they head to Anaheim for a clash at the Honda Center on Tuesday.
The bad news? Well, you know the story. The Flames have suffered 26 straight losses in Disneyland.
Fans left the Saddledome on Fan Appreciation night feeling torn. On the one hand, their squad is headed to the post-season; on the other, their team failed to hold a lead all night.
They managed to knot the score 3-3 thanks to a Michael Frolik goal at the 5:42 mark of the third period. But Logan Shaw scored the game winner with 3:06 remaining. Brian Elliott stopped 30 of 34 shots.
After falling behind 2-0 in the first period, the Flames made it up to the fans in the second.
Kris Versteeg scored two power-play goals; his first was with Micheal Ferland playing the role of distractor in front of Jonathan Bernier’s net.
His second came during a fiveon-three opportunity with the Ducks killing off a too-many-men penalty and Josh Manson’s slashing infraction.
And, at that point, the playoffstyle roughness started.
A scrum ensued after Matthew Tkachuk hit a post with 9:14 remaining in the middle frame and ended with Nate Thompson crosschecking Mikael Backlund.
That was taken care of with 4:52 remaining when Ferland took matters into his own hands, dropping the gloves with Thompson in a heavyweight bout that went the distance.
Meanwhile, Elliott stood tall in the second period. He made outof-this-world saves on Rickard Rakell, Patrick Eaves and a leftskate save on Ryan Getzlaf.
Right at the end of the period, he also got into a heated interaction with Corey Perry after he slashed the Flames netminder on the way down from a Dougie Hamilton check in front of the net. Elliott slashed back and had words with the pesky winger.
The Ducks got the last word when Korbinian Holzer pulled his squad ahead 3-2 with 2:07 left.
Eaves opened the scoring for the Ducks on a power-play at 11:32, netting his seventh goal in the last eight games, after a nice passing play between Getzlaf, Jakob Silfverberg and Cam Fowler. At the time, Ryan Kesler was tied up with Mark Giordano to free up Eaves to tap in the rebound.
And, with 56.2 seconds left in the first, they struck again when Silfverberg went top shelf on Elliott.
This came after a decent start to the opening frame — Johnny Gaudreau and Ferland opened with a two-on-one on their first shift.
Calgary wraps up the regular season with a three game road trip through California, squaring off with the Ducks on Tuesday, the L.A. Kings on Thursday, and the San Jose Sharks on Saturday.