Ducks douse Flames in opener
ANAHEIM — When asked about his thoughts about seemingly meaningless leads and both teams’ ability to produce incredible comebacks, Bob Hartley smiled.
“It’ll be great for TV ratings,” the Calgary Flames head coach had quipped before the start of his club’s second-round Stanley Cup playoff series against the Anaheim Ducks, “because no one is going to leave.”
He was not wrong; no one left the Honda Center on Thursday night.
The Ducks, after all, had a 4-0 lead after the second period.
But as for those watching back in Calgary — those who checked out after 40 minutes of action — you didn’t miss much.
In the end, the Flames dropped a 6-1 decision to the Western Conference heavyweights.
And, unlike some games this 2014-15 regular season (think Dec. 22 versus the L.A. Kings or last Saturday’s Game 6 versus Vancouver), you didn’t even have to double check the score in the morning.
This one was over shortly after Jonas Hiller, making his return to the Honda Center where he spent seven seasons, allowed three goals on 14 shots. In relief, Karri Ramo didn’t fare much better, allowing three more on 21.
And as much as the leads had been a hot topic, so had been the Ducks depth.
Five different Anaheim players scored: Matt Beleskey and Patrick Maroon in the first period, Corey Perry and Emerson Etem in the second. And Perry (again) and Ryan Getzlaf (with a four-point night) scored power-play markers in the third.
Calgary’s lone goal came from a wicked shot in the slot from rookie Sam Bennett 9:16 into the final frame.
This, after the Flames managed to contain the Sedins in the first round of playoffs.
“They’re a little more in your face, a little more physical than the Sedins,” Joe Colborne had been saying about how to contain the Ducks top line of Perry, Getzlaf, and Maroon.
“But same thing. We’re going from the best cycling to the second or maybe they’re flip-flopped, who knows. Again, (both) lines really like to get the puck down low and hold onto it.”
Which is precisely how they scored their goals.
Beleskey netted his on a tremendous pass from Kyle Palmeiri, working the puck down low.
Getzlaf found Maroon, too, in similar fashion.
In the second period, the Flames had another powerplay opportunity when Johnny Gaudreau was run over by Nate Thompson, but they couldn’t muster anything out of it.
Hiller’s former counterpart Frederik Andersen didn’t have much to do.
The Flames could have had one shortly after the puck dropped when Jakob Silfverberg slipped on a banana peel at Calgary’s blue line and Josh Jooris took off on a breakaway.
The Flames rookie had speed but couldn’t convert and Silfverberg, the gamewinning goal scorer in Games 2 and 3 versus Winnipeg, exhaled.
Early in the first period, Hiller had stopped a onetimer from Beleskey in front (a great feed by Hampus Lindholm) and made another fantastic save on Lindholm on their second power play of the opening frame.
His game seemed to fall apart after that. And so did the team in front of him as they lost their 20th straight game (including playoffs) at the Honda Center.
The bad news continued as the Flames lost Michael Ferland and Jiri Hudler with undisclosed injuries.
Oh, and Calder Trophy nominee Gaudreau didn’t play a shift in the third period.
No, a comeback wasn’t meant to be on this night.
And certainly wasn’t necessary for the home team who had enjoyed an eight day break between games.