The Calgary Flames have lost 27 consecutive games at the Honda Center dating back more than a decade. Simply put, the Anaheim Ducks have had Calgary's number and with home-ice advantage in their back pocket, the Flames will have to win at least one game on the road to advance.
They'll get their first crack at doing so tonight but it will be far from easy. As well as the Flames played down the stretch, the Ducks were even better and enter this series the unquestionable favorites.
The Ducks have been in this situation many times before, though. Every year they are one of the top seeded teams in the league and rarely have they been able to go deep. Rightly or wrongly (I'll go with the latter), that's why they cut the cord with Bruce Boudreau a year ago. They're sick of early exits and failing to reach expectations that come with all the winning they do in the regular season.
If the Flames were to go to Anaheim, snap their losing streak, steal Game 1, and gain themselves home-ice the rest of the way the pressure would be felt early by the Ducks. One game is one game, but it's hard to believe there wouldn't be a little doubt and a 'here we go again' feeling in the minds of Corey Perry, Ryan Getzlaf, Ryan Kesler and those who have had to deal with early exits over the last few years.
The road team won four of five games on opening night of the playoffs. Let's see if the Flames can make that trend continue.
Here are the expected line combinations for the Flames:
Johnny Gaudreau - Sean Monahan - Micheal Ferland Matthew Tkachuk - Mikael Backlund - Michael Frolik Kris Versteeg - Sam Bennett - Alex Chiasson Lance Bouma - Matt Stajan - Troy Brouwer
Mark Giordano - Dougie Hamilton T.J. Brodie - Michael Stone Matt Bartkowski - Deryk Engelland
Brian Elliott
And the expected lines for the Ducks (via dailyfaceoff.com):
Rickard Rakell - Ryan Getzlaf - Patrick Eaves Andrew Cogliano - Ryan Kesler - Jakob Silfverberg Ondrej Kase - Antoine Vermette - Corey Perry Chris Wagner - Nate Thompson - Logan Shaw
Sami Vatanen - Josh Manson Hampus Lindholm - Brandon Montour Shea Theodore - Kevin Bieksa
John Gibson
A few notes:
1) I wrote about this the other day but Kesler and his linemates have really caused problems for the Gaudreau/Monahan duo during their young NHL careers.
Monahan and Gaudreau can't continue to get eaten alive by the Kesler line. pic.twitter.com/7InzkTEEhR
— Todd Cordell (@ToddCordell) April 11, 2017
Randy Carlyle is a matchup coach and you can bet he'll be chasing that one each and every night. The top line needs to step up.
2) Lindholm and Vatanen just returned from injuries and, like most players at this time of year, are likely not 100%. The Flames need to finish every check on those guys and make their lives as miserable as possible. The hits add up, especially if you're already banged up, so the extra minutes they're taking on without Cam Fowler around will really take their toll.
3) If you thought Tkachuk was a pain in the ass before, wait until you see him in playoff mode. I had the pleasure of watching some of his games with the London Knights and he goes out of his way to get in the faces of opposing players. I wouldn't be surprised if he's able to draw a couple dumb penalties throughout this series. The key is making sure he doesn't take any himself.
Tonight's game is scheduled for 10:30 eastern and can be seen on CBC and NBCSN.
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