FLAMES BREAK ANAHEIM CURSE
Calgary beats Ducks at Honda Center
Yes, it really happened. No, you weren’t dreaming.
In their third game of the season — and 30th consecutive attempt at trying to win at the Honda Center — the Calgary Flames finally, finally, finally broke a 13-year streak of futility.
After losing the last 29 games at 2695 East Katella Ave., the palatial palm tree-lined home of the Anaheim Ducks, the Flames snapped the mind-boggling skid with a 2-0 victory on Monday.
Mikael Backlund’s and Sean Monahan’s goals will go down in history as the markers that finally got the job done. Ditto for Mike Smith who turned aside 43(!) Ducks attempts to help his new team improve to 2-1-0 on the season.
Smith was battling right until the buzzer when former Flames player Derek Grant battled with Travis Hamonic in a goalmouth scramble. Smith appeared to jam his left arm with 14.8 seconds remaining but hung on for the shutout, his first with the Flames.
With the Flames up 1-0 heading into the third period, Backlund and his line battled Ryan Getzlaf, who made his return to the lineup after missing the opening two games of the year with a lower body injury. After a few nice Ducks chances, Backlund burned down to the Anaheim end and released a shot that will be played on highlight reel loops for the next few days.
Matthew Tkachuk should also be recognized for his play after he drew two penalties and nearly scored a third Flames goal off a two-on-one with Michael Frolik. He had a wide open net and almost had Ducks goalie John Gibson beat but it was Tkachuk’s own stick that prevented the goal.
The 19-year-old sophomore was also controversially called for goaltender interference after resident pest Corey Perry pulled him into Gibson’s net. Not only did the Flames kill it off, Matt Stajan had a short-handed breakaway.
Just to recap, the last time the Flames won during the regular season in Anaheim was Jan. 19, 2004, making it 25 regular season losses in a row. The last time they won in the playoffs in the building was April 25, 2006.
And, wow, some of those games have been baaaaaaaaad.
“Just reflecting, in 2015, it wasn’t even close in some of the games that were here,” Glen Gulutzan said Monday morning. “Last year, we had ourselves out-chancing them at certain points of that series. I think there’s a gap that’s been bridged a bit by us.
“But now we have to take it to the next level.”
Consider Monday’s game the first step.
Monahan’s marker put Calgary on the scoresheet on a fantastic passing play, with Monahan eventually teed up by Kris Versteeg on the man advantage with 3:33 remaining in the second period.
The goal was a dramatic shift in momentum. Up until that point, it could have gone either way.
Gibson, rattled earlier after taking a Dougie Hamilton shot off his coconut, made his best stop of the night shortly before that when Monahan and Johnny Gaudreau teamed up for a two-on-one.
The fans cheered for their netminder, and it was a Ducks-pleasing series as Chris Wagner had just laid out Matt Bartkowski, which was retribution for a hit he delivered on Dennis Rasmussen.
The rough stuff was standard for the evening — carry over from the 2017 NHL playoffs — and Travis Hamonic familiarized himself with the Pacific Division rivalry/ hatred early on.
Gulutzan indicated after Monday’s morning skate that they’d “brought in someone” and “put together something” for the players, regarding the streak. He wouldn’t reveal anything more. But it worked. The Flames visit the L.A. Kings Wednesday before returning home to host the Ottawa Senators.