Flames hurt by mistakes in Game 1 loss to Ducks

Josh Cooper

ANAHEIM, Calif. – Calgary Flames goaltender Brian Elliott believed his team made life too easy on the Anaheim Ducks during a 3-2 Game 1 loss in the first-round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Calgary’s seven penalties led to two Anaheim power play goals and a bad line change in the second period created a Ducks 3-on-0 goal that pretty much changed the momentum of the game. Afterwards Elliott bemoaned these issues and how he thought Calgary served up the game to Anaheim in some respects.

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“It’s tough when we give them everything,” Elliott said after making 38 saves on 41 shots on goal. “Two power play goals and a bad change – it’s not like they really earned it that much. We kind of gave it to them so if we clean things up we’ll take care of business.”

Really, the bad line change in the second period that led to the 3-on-0 goal by Rickard Rakell seemed to sting the Flames the most. Calgary dumped the puck into the Anaheim zone and slowly came to the bench to change. Ducks defenseman Kevin Bieksa retrieved it, saw captain Ryan Getzlaf open up the ice and fed him the puck, which caught the Flames off guard. Getzlaf broke into the zone with Rakell and Patrick Eaves and eventually Rakell put the puck past Elliott on a rebound off Getzlaf’s shot to make the game 2-2 at the 13:53 mark of the frame.

“We haven’t really had too many of those all season. Maybe a bit of a brain fart or whatever the word you want to say,” Flames forward Kris Versteeg said. “We just have to figure that out. Everyone who is on the ice has to talk and it’s loud in there and that’s just playoff atmosphere. You’re going to have to figure those things out as you go and be ready for the moment.”

Added teammate Johnny Gaudreau, “That’s tough. It’s a tough break. We have to be better, especially in the second period when their bench is closer to our goalie. We can’t have five guys change like that. It’s something that’s a little minor error there and next thing you know it’s a 2-2 game. It happens. It’s part of hockey and we have to get better.”

Shortly after that tally, Ducks forward Jakob Silfverberg capitalized with the power play game-winner at the 17:47 mark of the second. This came off a goaltender interference penalty by Flames forward Lance Bouma. Calgary’s loss continued a stretch of futility at Honda Center, where they haven’t won since April 0f 2006. Throughout the game, the crowd of 17,174 chanted “You can’t win here” at the Flames.

“We’ll lose our rhythm if we take (seven) minors a game,” Flames coach Glen Gulutzan said. “It affects our top guys’ ice-time and you lose your rhythm and we’re a team that needs to play with pace and some rhythm and we didn’t get it tonight.”

Despite their mistakes, the Flames still had plenty of chances near the end of the game including a 5-on-3 for 1:14 in the final three minutes. Ultimately Calgary just couldn’t figure out a way to get the puck past Anaheim goaltender John Gibson in that stretch.

“We had every chance in the world to tie it up there at the end with the 5-on-3,” Elliott said. “They capitalized and we didn’t at the end.”

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Though the Flames lost, they took solace in the fact that they went toe-to-toe with the Pacific Division winning Ducks and could have won the game if they showed some poise. The Flames weren’t outplayed at all and at times were the aggressor before their flow was disrupted by penalties and mistakes.

“We can play with these guys, we know we can,” Flames captain Mark Giordano said. “Certain moments in the game I thought we had looks, good looks to go up by two and we didn’t score and then they get a break and they come down and score. We talked about it. They have players who shift-to-shift they can change a game because they’re so skilled and they can make plays and make things happen and you saw that tonight.”

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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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