Calgary Flames try to use outsider doubt as power against Ducks
ANAHEIM – The Calgary Flames relish the underdog role. It’s almost like their fuel … doubt them and they’ll come out with a stronger performance to prove you wrong.
If that’s the case, losing Game 1 by the score of 6-1 to the Anaheim Ducks in their second round series was the perfect way to create seeds of uncertainty. But there’s an obvious fact heading into Game 2. If the Flames win, the series will be tied 1-1, and Calgary will be in decent shape heading home for Game 3.
“There’s a new level now to reach in the second round,” Flames general manager Brad Treliving said. “These guys have experienced it. Our group now is learning that. With all the things that went on (Thursday) night with a poor night and a poor showing, at the end of the day, they only get one win for it, whether you lose that game, triple OT or 2-1 game, or if it was what it was. You clean the slate and your mindset doesn’t change.”
The Flames have the right type of mix to create the perfect storm of cynics. They’re young, nobody expected them to be this good this year. Their advanced stats have been on the poor side of the rest of the league this season. Their top player, Mark Giordano, has been out since early March.
Between coach Bob Hartley, who at one point was such an NHL outcast that he had to go to Europe to rediscover himself, to baby-faced forward Johnny Gaudreau, to Jiri Hudler, whose contract signing by Calgary was met with scorn along with defenseman Dennis Wideman, they’re the one playoff team that is an ‘outlier.’ It all makes a lot of sense. And they feed off it. They love it.
“We know that people talk a lot, but we have a tight group and (Thursday night) wasn’t how we had been playing all season,” Flames forward Sean Monahan said. “We got more and we’re going to show that.”
Even Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau, after Game 1, said he didn’t expect the Flames to have the same type of contest in Game 2. And they won’t, they’re going to be better. It’s how they roll.
“It’s more about trying to prove ourselves right with the belief we have in the group that we have and the players we have,” Treliving said.
But will it be good enough? The Ducks haven’t lost these playoffs and have looked deep, physical and veteran – all the eyeball test components that lead to a deep run. Analytically, they’ve beaten the Jets and the Flames.
Beyond the doubter tough talk by the Flames, there are issues with this team. Hudler and Michael Ferland, who were injured in Game 1 are expected to play in Game 2, but are they really OK? Hartley sat Gaudreau in the third period of the first game to keep him fresh supposedly. The Flames will go to Karri Ramo to start this game. It will be his first postseason start of his career.
Strip away the Calgary ‘us against the world’ stuff and this looks like a desperate team resorting to desperate measures.
Then again, it’s the Flames. Who knows. If there’s one detail we’ve learned about them all year, it’s to strip all facts about what we think we know about hockey when we watch them. Because regardless of how they do it, they seem to find a way.
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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper
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