Little engine that could chugs into Anaheim
The between-series lull reached its end Wednesday. And thank goodness for that.
Questions—and-responses—had been growing awfully threadbare around the Saddledome corridors.
Heck, the mere sight of Oleg Saprykin near the dressing-room door caused reporters to fairly sprint over to the former member of the Calgary Flames — just for a fresh take on ... well, anything. But the waiting is over. The Flames — after practice and before the afternoon’s departure for Anaheim — offered the last of their answers.
And some of their shortest ones, too.
Coach Bob Hartley was asked how his players intended to avoid the bruisingly bad intentions of the Ducks. Simple. “Skate around them.” The recipe for series success, too, was boiled down to its most basic form.
“Pretty easy math,” said Hartley, whose gang opens its matchup Thursday at the Honda Center. “You don’t need a Harvard degree to figure out our situation. We need to go get one in Anaheim and win three at home.”
Noteworthy was the team-practice absence of Michael Ferland, David Jones, David Schlemko.
“They skated (earlier in the) morning,” said Hartley. “We have so many guys that we split the group in two.”
The coach punctuated that last comment with a comically large wink, because everyone knows those three players are nicked up to some extent. But? “They will all be in the lineup,” said Hartley, with a somewhat straighter face.
Because, yes, the impending stare-down with the Ducks is a sobering thought.
Anaheim is the top bunch in the Western Conference. Its firstround series against the highlyregarded Winnipeg Jets ended in a sweep.
So stacked are the Quackers that it is difficult to single out a strength.
“I don’t think you can put a finger on one thing,” said Dennis Wideman. “They’re just a solid, deep team with lots of skill, lots of size. They have guys with speed. They can play pretty much any game you want to play. If you want to play a physical game with them, they can match you with that. If you want to play a skill game, they can match you with that, too.”
Collectors of 51 wins and 109 points during the regular season, the Ducks own advantages all over the ice.
In the middle, the 1-2 punch of Ryan Getzlaf and Ryan Kesler is hard to knock.
“Getzlaf, very good offensively with his crew,” said Hartley. “Kesler, he’s a big centre they use to play against the other team’s top line
But Hartley pointed out the 3-4 continuation of their power at pivot, with Rickard Rakell and Nate Thompson.
“The biggest challenge ... they have four lines, (each) with a different game,” said the coach. “They will come at you in a different way. They each have an identity, but they still play a great team game.”
Anaheim’s back-end, too, is considerable. How good is it? “When you have a defenceman like (James) Wisniewski that you can’t get in the lineup — talk about depth,” said Hartley. “Their six defencemen, they jump in the attack. They’re very dangerous. They’re big and they’re fast. And they can defend very well.”
The Canucks, too, had possessed advantages — Sedin & Sedin, experience, home ice — but still the Flames prevailed. Back-patting, however, is over. “We start fresh again,” said Matt Stajan. “We know what’s at stake. We’re one step closer to everybody’s goal. Nothing’s going to surprise me. Nothing’s going to surprise anybody. We’ll throw everything out there. We’ll see what happens.”
And Hartley, despite glowing notices about the heavily favoured opposition, adores his own group.
He announced that not once has a player been late for a meeting this season.
The coach admires the way the squad carries itself.
“One thing we stress — to have good body language,” said the coach. “The message that we send to you guys. The message that we send to our fans. The message that we send to the other teams. We’re solid — you might bend us, but you’re not going to break us.
“Always be resilient. To always come back after a bad shift or a goal against ... you need to bounce back. That’s what we’re trying to get from all of our team — and we get it. It’s pretty remarkable what we’re getting from all of our players, including our young kids.”
As members of the NHL’s final eight, the Flames are being taken seriously — more or less — by the hockey world. But they are no one’s favourite for the rest of the spring.
Bodog.ca has installed the Flames as 2-1 underdogs in the series. The Ducks rates 5-12 odds. “I mean, there’s some challenges, but we’re excited for it,” said Kris Russell. “We’ve played teams like this before and done well. We’ve learned to play all styles of game ... and win all kinds of different ways. We’re excited to get playing again. We’ve had our time off.
“Clean slate. Fresh start. We’ve got to make sure we’re ready.”