Flames Shutout by Frederik Andersen, Anaheim in Game Two

The Flames didn't play well in game one.  They played better in this one, but not well enough to pick up the victory.  They were shut out and it wasn't necessarily all great goaltending.  Scoring chances were a concern.  Here's how it went.

Period One

If Bob Hartley's goal was to play a different style of hockey then he failed miserably at the start of the game.  Corsi chances were ten to four in favor of the Ducks and they had four scoring chances to the Flames zero.  The Flames looked terrible as the ducks hit a few posts, had a few shots drift wide of the net and hit some posts.  They were lucky to be tied through the first five minutes.

The announcers stated that it was all Ducks with shots being nine to three and that served as a bit of foreshadowing.  Dennis Wideman turned the puck over and Ryan Kesler took it away.  From there he orchestrated a beautiful two on one as he found Matt Beleskey for what was basically a wide open net as the Ducks took the lead one to nil seven minutes and 27 seconds into the game.

Things get even more precarious for the flames as Deryk Engelland took an elbowing penalty on Corey Perry eight minutes and 39 seconds in.  The Ducks were already massively outshooting the Flames and there was little reason to think the penalty kill would be any different.  The situation was dicey as the Ducks had their chances, but the Flames managed to kill it off.  The game was still pretty ugly to this point though as the Flames were being outshot 13 to five by the second television timeout.

Calgary did manage to at least slow the pace down for the next few moments.  The chances weren't anywhere near as good for Anaheim except for an odd breakout which lead to two shots off of a rebound from Ramo, but they couldn't capitalize.  The Flames didn't have any great chances of their own, but at least they kept it tight until the next timeout.

After the third break Jiri Hudler took a hooking penalty with four minutes and 28 seconds left of the period and the Ducks went to power play again.  They looked much better this time around and Hampus Lindholm effectively killed the penalty for the Flames as he took a tripping penalty to end the power play with about a minute and five seconds remaining on the power play.  This of course meant everybody gets to see that exciting Flames four on four hockey which they're so good at!

Unfortunately they weren't very good at it.  The Ducks took possession and drove the puck back the other way for a few chances on net before the four on four play ended.  The Flames managed to recover and get the puck back into Anaheim's end for what was left on their power play and actually had a few decent looks, but that didn't materialize into a goal as the Ducks killed the remainder of the penalty.

After some back and forth action the period mercifully came to a close.  The Ducks had 20 shots in the period to the Flames nine with nearly all of the scoring chances in favor of Anaheim.  At this point the Flames were lucky to only be down a goal.

Period Two

The second period started with the Ducks entering the Flames zone almost immediately, but the Flames recovered and attempted to break out.  This lead to Lindholm leveling Hudler.  Hudler wound up going to the locker room and the Flames were the recipients of another power play.

The power play looked good and they were oh so close to tying it up, but Frederik Andersen was able to sprawl out and make the saves and cover it up.  Hudler returned to the ice after the stoppage, but from there on out the Ducks were able to clear it with relative ease.  The power play expired and the score was still one to nothing.

The Flames really started pressing in the first five minutes of the period.  Mason Raymond had a great chance, but Andersen snatched it which lead to the first "Freddy" chants of the game.  Their momentum ended after they went offside.

The Ducks were in the Flames zone when Lindholm made an excellent pass to Patrick Maroon in the slot.  It looked like it a certain two to nothing lead for Anaheim, but Calgary got a literal break as Maroon's stick shattered on the shot and the shot drifted harmlessly into Hiller's left pad.  He was able to cover up for the stoppage.  Play went back and forth from there without any stupendous chances until Ramo gloved down a shot leading to the first commercial break.

Right after the break Sean Monahan took a holding penalty and it was yet another power play for the Ducks.  Matt Stajan broke his stick on the ensuing penalty kill and it was essentially a five on three.  Stajan made a great effort in an attempt to kick the puck out of the zone, but couldn't quite get enough on it.  The Ducks had a great setup, but Ramo was able to stop it in full desperation mode and was able to sprawl out to cover it.  Anaheim had a few more chances, but Ramo was fantastic as Calgary improved to three for three on the penalty kill.  A stoppage lead to the next commercial break.

The Ducks came out of the break looking a bit better than they had all period as their play started to resemble that of the first period.  The Flames had trouble just getting the puck into Anaheim's zone and at points were unable to clear.  It once again looked like Anaheim against Ramo and Ramo was coming out on top.  The Flames had two shots on goal after during this period, one coming from Joe Colborne off of a steal, but Andersen thwarted it leading to the next commercial break.

The Flames look much better out of the break and controlled the pace of play.  They were quite active on the forecheck and really kept the puck in deep the entire time.  They weren't getting a ton of shots off, but Anaheim wasn't getting any.  Johnny Gaudreau even contributed with a hit on Lindholm which didn't do much, but the Saddledome would have gone crazy.

All of the hard work lead to another power play after Beleskey tripped David Jones 19 minutes and 21 second into the second period.  There wasn't enough time to get a lot going on the power play as time expired, but at least the Flames had something to work with going into the third period.  The Flames played much, much better in the second period particularly towards the end.  They had more shot attempts and scoring chances than Anaheim, but unfortunately it didn't materialize and a victory would require a vintage Calgary Flames style third period.

Period Three

The Ducks were forced to kill off the remainder of the Beleskey penalty as Calgary started on the power play.  They didn't necessarily look great in doing it, but the Flames failed to put the puck home as it came to an end.  From there the play was pretty even as play continued.

Once the even strength play continued the play could best be described as tepid.  The Flames were playing the Ducks pretty evenly, but there weren't a whole lot of opportunities to speak of.  The Ducks didn't look like they were slowing things down, rather Calgary seemed to lack some urgency in the first part of the period.  Play went back and forth for a bit without any real chances to speak of.  There weren't a lot of stoppages either which didn't seem to help Calgary.

The pace of play continued through the first two commercial breaks.  After the second one the Ducks managed to get on the board once again.  They got into the zone as Ryan Getzlaf got the puck over to Corey Perry.  Perry passed it back to Lindholm who managed to snap it pass Ramo for the two to nil lead.  The crowd finally got into it a bit as chants of "We want Hiller" broke out.

The Flames certainly didn't light the world on fire after the goal.  Their play was matched or bettered by Anaheim for the first few minutes.  Mikael Backlund had a rare miscue as he turned the puck over to Getzlaf who then went on a breakaway.  Fortunately it was not a great attempt at all and Ramo stopped it pretty easily, but Anaheim once again had the Flames back on their heels.

There was a commercial with just under three minutes and 30 seconds left in the period.  After the break Calgary got into the zone and the Flames pulled Ramo.  The Flames had trouble setting anything up and lost control of the Puck to Perry.  Perry passed over to Nate Thompson who skated just over the red line and fired it home into the empty net making it three to nothing with two minutes and 16 seconds left in the game.

The game was all but over over and things got a bit chippy at the end.  There were 44.2 seconds left in the game when Backlund went off for roughing.  The Ducks didn't score, but it didn't matter as the game came to an end with the Anaheim Ducks defeating the Calgary Flames three to nothing and Andersen picking up his first career playoff shutout.

Closing

The Flames didn't play all that poorly when it came to the possession battle.  The certainly played better than they did in game one, but they lost the scoring chances battle severely.  Anaheim did a good job at preventing Calgary from getting shots in close and the Flames couldn't create anything on their own.  Much of this was due to the Flames failing to create any breakouts.  They had no breakaways to speak off and there weren't any points in time where they were able to enter the zone and establish a presence up front.

The biggest reason for that tonight was Kris Russell.  Russell was by far the biggest possession sieve of the game as the Ducks had 13.7 more Corsi attempts for than against with him on the ice after score adjustments.  This was despite having seven offensive zone starts to his seven defensive ones.  Russell was also dead last during the previous game after not having a great season in that aspect.  This is an area where Hartley may want to make some adjustments next game.

The player of the game for the Flames has to be Ramo.  He did his part in stopping 31 of 33 shots, but that often gets overlooked in a shutout.  If he can continue playing the way he played tonight and the Flames can get some offense going, maybe they can turn this thing around.