The Flames are in Anaheim tonight! The second game of a home and home series against Calgary. Despite Vatanen and Lindholm being out of the lineup, I thought the Ducks played one of their best games of the year. The difference maker that I saw was the emphasis on tape-on-tape passes for breakouts. That, plus some initiative put so much pressure on the Flames, and by the 3rd period they were the ones that looked like the tired group taking the ice. The strong transitions made the neutral zone a winning battle for the Ducks, and made the Flames lives difficult. Calgary played a decent game, but after the Shaw goal, the discouragement was apparent.

It’s fun when a team gets to the point where the joy is just being difficult to play against. Just a, That isn’t going to happen, and actually we’re headed 200 feet that way mindset will wear on any team. Outside of the goose egg by the PK it was a great game.

In closing, I see this group having the most success when their transitions are spot on, and they’re consistently drawing penalties. Hopefully we’ll see more of that this evening.