On Thursday night the Calgary Flames played a hockey game in Anaheim. As was the case the previous 27 times, the Flames left the ice disappointed having lost the game.
Some thoughts on Game 1:
1) While the Flames didn't get the result they wanted, I think they have to be pretty happy with their effort. They didn't lose because they were convincingly outplayed. They didn't lose due to poor goaltending. They lost because of some simple mental mistakes. A couple dumb penalties and a bad line change was the difference in this game.
The Flames were outshot, in large part due to taking so many penalties, but they out-chanced the Ducks by nine at full-strength. If they can bring the same effort next game, and stay disciplined while doing so, they'll have a good shot of snapping the streak and heading back to Calgary with the series tied.
2) As well as the Flames played at times (when they weren't shooting themselves in the foot), the penalties are a big issue and need to be rectified immediately. You're simply not going to win games when you give Ryan Getzlaf, Rickard Rakell, Corey Perry, Jakob Silfverberg, Ryan Kesler et all. seven power play opportunities. Those guys will shred you if they have extra ice to work with and they showed that last night.
3) One extreme positive was the play of the top line vs Ryan Kesler's unit. As I mentioned a couple days ago, Kesler has eaten the Gaudreau/Monahan duo alive throughout their young careers. Last night the tables were turned - and in a big way.
The Gaudreau line out-attempted and out-chanced the Ducks by double digits while playing primarily against Kesler.
The Gaudreau - Monahan - Ferland line shredded the Ducks at 5v5 last night. Didn't get much help, though. pic.twitter.com/s6VsZJn4mO
— Todd Cordell (@ToddCordell) April 14, 2017
The Andrew Cogliano - Kesler - Silfverberg line is legitimately good and rarely put forth efforts like that. I'd expect Randy Carlyle will go right back to that matchup in Game 2.
4) I thought Brian Elliott was very good once again. He made 38 saves and the only goals he conceded came on the power play or on a 3-on-0 the Ducks managed to get as a result of a terrible line change. He kept the Flames in the game until the final whistle and that's all they could ask.
5) Ferland was skating like he was shot out of a cannon all night. He posted a game-high seven shots, a game-high plus-13 shot attempt differential, and a plus-10 scoring chance differential at 5v5 while also landing a few loud, heavy hits. Perhaps he should be getting more minutes (like Troy Brouwer's power play time).
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