Post-Game: Another Loss in Disneyland

Tonight the Calgary Flames attempted to finally overcome the Disneyland Curse by beating the Anaheim Ducks in the Honda Center.

Despite following their typical game-plan to the tee – spotting their opponent a few goals and then trying to come back in the third period – they did not win in Anaheim. The final score was 3-2.

They came that close. Their next chance will be January 21, the last game prior to the All-Star Break.

The Flames got down fairly early, giving up a Matt Beleskey goal five minutes into the game. Despite this, they had some good chances and out-shot the Ducks 12-9.

The second period was more of the game: the Flames out-shot the Ducks 14-12 and had three power-plays in the period (one carried over from the end of the first period). But no power-play goals. The Ducks made the most of their chances. Corey Perry got a nice bounce from traffic and bonked in the loose puck to give Anaheim a 2-0 lead. And late in the period, the Ducks went up by three as Kyle Palmieri scored one Jonas Hiller probably wants back, tucking the puck behind Hiller while falling down to make it 3-0.

The third? At first the Flames played possum. Then? They played well. The Flames spent a good deal of the first half of the period in their own zone, but following a power-play mid-way through the period they finally got rolling and really dictated the pace of the second half. T.J. Brodie turned the tide nearly at the exact mid-point of the period, sneaking in from the point and lasering a shot past Frederik Andersen off a feed from Sean Monahan to at least ensure the club wouldn’t get shut out for the first time this season. And after a bunch of chances that they couldn’t capitalize on, Jiri Hudler tipped home a Mark Giordano point shot with 25 seconds left. If that sounds like it wasn’t enough time to come back, you are correct and the comeback fell just a bit short. (Johnny Gaudreau had a goal called back prior to Hudler’s marker because Johnny Hockey thought he was Johnny Soccer with his distinct kicking motion.)

But hey, good effort after not capitalizing on a lot through the first 40 minutes (despite playing a fairly strong road game through 40).

The PDO chickens came home to roost. The Flames out-shot the Ducks overall – including getting 7 power-play shots – but didn’t get the bounces to the same degree they have in the past.

They also lost 56% of their draws, which is a great way to ensure that any momentum you’ve generated gets diffused by the home team pretty quick.

Let’s go with T.J. Brodie, who had 4 shots (tied for the team lead) and put a lot of rubber at the net. Oh, and he had a goal and an assist on Hudler’s late-game goal. Another strong game from #7.

The Flames don’t have time to stew over the loss, as they’re hopping a plane and jetting to Northern California for a date in San Jose with the Sharks. Odds are somebody gets sent down to the AHL, as most likely David Jones will make his return to the line-up and the roster already has 23 men on it.

It’s an 8:30pm start tomorrow in Silicon Valley. Can the Flames avoid back-to-back regulation losses? We’ll find out in less than 24 hours.