On Saturday night the Calgary Flames dropped their 29th consecutive game in Anaheim and fell behind in the series, 2-0, in the process.
Some thoughts on a disappointing Game 2:
1) Once again the Flames more than held their own against the Pacific Division winners. The Flames were the better side at 5v5 -- they out-chanced the Ducks by five in that game state -- but untimely penalties and an unlucky bounce again proved costly and decided the victor.
Dougie Hamilton's late penalty, coupled with Lance Bouma on the ice with less than five minutes remaining in a tie game, led to a Ducks goal and the T.J. Brodie penalty that followed all but eliminated any chance the Flames had of tying things up.
If the Flames can clean this stuff up they'll have a shot but they've dug a good hole now with these simple mistakes.
2) Brian Elliott was really good in Game 1. I wasn't in love with his performance last night, though. He couldn't really do much on the Bouma deflection play but the two goals prior, and first, in particular, are not goals you want to allow - especially in a playoff game. John Gibson is playing lights out right now so Elliott is going to have to take it up a notch.
3) Ferland played less than 12 minutes again but I thought he was very impactful with his ice. He had three shots, five hits, a positive shot attempt plus scoring chance differential, and also dropped the mitts with Kevin Bieksa. The Flames really need to put him on the power play to boost his ice. He's been a lot better than Troy Brouwer, for example, but Brouwer played almost five minutes more, 3:27 of which came on the man advantage.
4) As was the case in Game 1, the Gaudreau line was matched up primarily against Kesler's line at 5v5. The former was once again better than the latter, although the difference wasn't as large as it was in Game 1.
With Gaudreau on the ice vs Kesler at 5v5 the Flames out-attempted the Ducks by four and out-chanced them by a couple. Unfortunately for the Flames, it didn't show on the scoreboard.
5) If the Flames are going to make this a series they need to start on time. In Game 1 they took a penalty and allowed a goal less than one minute in. Last night they allowed a goal three minutes in and were down a pair by the mid-way mark of the 1st. With John Gibson playing the way he is, they can't continue to spot the Ducks early goals and expect to get results.
6) Through two games the Flames have 56 scoring chances at 5v5 and have out-chanced the Ducks by 14. They have one 5v5 goal to show for it. They're going to have a tough time winning the special teams battle taking so many penalties -- the Ducks have had 11 power plays already -- so they really need to start taking advantage of the looks they're getting at full-strength.
7) Fire the Matt Bartkowski - Deryk Engelland pairing into the sun.
The Bartkowski-Engelland pairing was eaten alive in G2. Played mostly against Anaheim's 3rd and 4th lines, too. pic.twitter.com/PHpwr2QRSi
— Todd Cordell (@ToddCordell) April 16, 2017
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