ANAHEIM, Calif. -- The Anaheim Ducks have a chance to close out their second-round series with the Calgary Flames at the Honda Center on Sunday night (10 ET). The Ducks lead the series 3-1 and are poised to advance to the Western Conference finals for the first time since 2007, when they won their only Stanley Cup. Here's what to watch for in Game 5:
Run over by the Honda: The Honda Center is the Flames’ own personal house of horrors as the team has not won a game here since a first-round playoff victory on April 25, 2006. Since then, they’ve lost two more games in Anaheim in that 2006 series, 20 straight regular-season games and two playoff games to start this series, for a total of 24 straight losses. Does it mean anything? Only if they lose another Sunday night. “You know, Elvis is dead, the Beatles have split and life goes on,” coach Bob Hartley said Sunday. “If we didn’t believe that we could win, we would have stayed home. That’s one thing. The day that I will coach a game in this league that I believe our team or our organization can’t win, I will stay home.”
One area the Flames would like to address is the discrepancy between the two power plays. The Ducks have been opportunistic, scoring four times with the man advantage on 14 chances, including the game winner in Game 4 by Matt Beleskey, who has a goal in all four games of this series. The Flames have not been nearly as opportunistic, going 1-for-14 thus far in the series and failing to capitalize on a 56-second 5-on-3 in the third period of Game 4. One way to take the Honda Center crowd out of the equation would be to score with the man advantage at the earliest opportunity. “We've just got to play our game," said Calgary defenseman Kris Russell. "We know where we’re sitting. But at the same time we’ve played well with our backs against the wall. We know we’ve got to win and try to get back to our fans."
One game at a time: You couldn’t blame the Ducks for looking ahead to the Western Conference finals, where the Chicago Blackhawks are waiting after sweeping the Minnesota Wild. But the Ducks insist that’s not happening at all.
“We’re not looking forward to any other series or any other teams. We’re looking to tonight,” Ducks forward Nate Thompson told ESPN.com on Sunday. “The fourth game, I know it’s a cliché, it is always the hardest to win. I mean, you see all the other series. Teams have trouble closing that fourth game out because teams that are done are desperate and they’re playing desperate hockey and they’re playing their best hockey. You pretty much have to have a complete game, complete 60 minutes, and be almost perfect to win that fourth game."
Coach Bruce Boudreau insisted it would be folly to start thinking about the next series. “I can guarantee you one thing,” he said. "I have not looked ahead. One thing I know: Chicago won the last series. We’re focused on this series. When this is over one way or another, then we might have the opportunity to look ahead. I’ve found in the past that when you start looking ahead, then you forget about what’s going on in the right now, so we don’t do that."
Changes unlikely: Both teams enjoyed strong performances in Game 4, won by the Ducks 4-2, and it appears unlikely that either coach will be making lineup changes for Game 5. Boudreau made one minor lineup change in Game 4, inserting Tomas Fleischmann for Emerson Etem, although it looked leading up to Game 4 that he might also sit Kyle Palmieri. Instead, Palmieri had a strong game and set up the Ducks’ second goal.
“Sometimes a change is just to give the other guy a little bit of a wakeup call,” Boudreau said Sunday. “We didn’t change Palmieri, but I thought he had a much better game because now sometimes they realize the threat that if they don’t pick it up, they’re going to get changed. I think Emerson’s in the same boat right now. He’s dying to get back in the lineup. But I thought Tomas, we put him in different situations of 4-on-4, he killed penalties, he played right wing and he also can play center. So with him we’ve got the versatility. When you win, it’s hard to justify changing the lines or the lineup at all and then maybe because then you’re trying to outguess yourself, I think. I’m not really good at that.”
The Flames added Micheal Ferland, who scored their second goal, and Lance Bouma in Game 4. Both brought added physicality to the proceedings and are expected to play again in Game 5.
Offense needs to step up: No player has more than one goal in this series for the Flames, who have been outscored 16-7. Could the Flames squeak out a 2-1 or 1-0 win? Maybe. Karri Ramo has been solid since taking over for Jonas Hiller after Game 1, but it seems imperative if the Flames are going to prolong this series, they are going to need to get more offense (see the power play). And at the risk of beating a familiar drum, they are going to need to get more from their top line of Sean Monahan, Jiri Hudler and Johnny Gaudreau -- which has combined for two goals and one assist in the series.
“We have a chance to keep going here,” Monahan said Sunday. “Tonight, we’re going to do whatever we can to leave this building without any regrets or excuses. Hopefully, we can get the result we want. Mistakes are going to happen. But we’ll be a desperate team. We’re going to be that team that take charge and try and do more."
Projected lineups:
Ducks
Patrick Maroon-Ryan Getzlaf-Corey Perry
Matt Beleskey-Ryan Kesler-Jakob Silfverberg
Andrew Cogliano-Rickard Rakell-Kyle Palmieri
Tomas Fleischmann-Nate Thompson-Tim Jackman
Hampus Lindholm-Francois Beauchemin
Flames
Johnny Gaudreau-Sean Monahan-Jiri Hudler
Lance Bouma-Matt Stajan-David Jones
Sam Bennett-Mikael Backlund-Joe Colborne
Brandon Bollig-Josh Jooris-Mason Raymond
T.J. Brodie-Deryk Engelland
Kris Russell-Dennis Wideman
Karri Ramo