First of all, they hadn’t appeared in the playoffs in eight years – their last two games against Chicago in 1996 were Jarome Iginla’s first two NHL appearances – and they hadn’t closed out a playoff series since the 1989 Stanley Cup Final.

Moreover, the Flames had developed a reputation for finding ways to lose in the playoffs since hoisting the Cup on Montreal Forum ice:

Despite being the higher seed, they lost three times on the road to Los Angeles in 1990 – including two overtime losses and a 12-4 shellacking in Game 4 – to be eliminated in the first round a year after winning the Stanley Cup.
They dramatically battled back from a 3-1 series deficit against Edmonton in 1991 to force Game 7, only to lose in overtime for their second consecutive first round ouster.
After missing the playoffs in 1992, they returned in 1993 only to be eliminated in the first round by the Kings (again), losing three consecutive games after obtaining a 2-1 series lead.
The following year (1994), the Flames got out to a 3-1 series lead against Vancouver… only to lose three consecutive overtime games to be eliminated in the first round.
In 1995, the Flames roared back from a 2-0 series deficit against the upstart San Jose Sharks and managed to get a 3-2 series lead. But the Sharks won Game 6, then beat the Flames in double overtime in Game 7 to eliminate the Flames in the first round.
In 1996, the Flames were swept by Chicago in the first round, with the Blackhawks dispatching them in triple overtime in Game 4 in the longest game in Flames franchise history.

After defeating Montreal in Game 6 in the 1989 Stanley Cup Final, the Flames were eliminated in the first round in their next six playoff appearances and managed to lose six games where they could have potentially advanced into the next round had they won.

So you could understand fan anxiety heading into the 2004 post-season amidst whispers of a “Montreal Forum Curse.” (As an aside, the concept of a Forum Curse only makes sense if you assume the Forum’s ghosts only cared about the Canadiens: the New York Rangers beat the Montreal Maroons on Forum ice for the Cup in 1928, then won Cups in 1933 and 1940 before their infamous 54 years without a championship.)

Matched up against Vancouver for the first time since that 1994 series, the Flames performed well early on. Sure, the Canucks were missing Todd Bertuzzi to a lengthy suspension due to the Steve Moore incident and they lost goalie Dan Cloutier to an injury in Game 3, but the Flames began the playoffs without injured forwards Dean McAmmond and Steve Reinprecht and would lose blueliners Toni Lydman and Denis Gauthier during the first round. After splitting the first two games in Vancouver, the Flames won three of the next four contests – including their first home playoff win since May 1995 – to give themselves a 3-2 series lead and two chances to close out the Canucks.

But to win their first playoff round in 15 years, the Flames would have to ride out two of the craziest hockey games in franchise history.

Game 6

With the possibility of winning a playoff series on home ice for the first time since the 1989 conference finals, the Flames got out to a bad start. Vancouver scored the game’s first four goals – scored by Jarkko Ruutu, Daniel Sedin, Brad May and Geoff Sanderson – before the Flames rose from their slumber in the second half of the game, woke the crowd up, and made a push. Oleg Saprykin, Ville Nieminen, Martin Gelinas and Robyn Regehr scored to force overtime.

The first two periods of extra time were tense. Neither team wanted to make a mistake. Both Miikka Kiprusoff and Alex Auld made some big saves. Shots were even at 17-17. Finally, 2:28 into the third overtime period, at 12:33 a.m. local time in Calgary, Brendan Morrison found a spot of quiet ice in front of the Flames’ net and tucked the puck behind a sprawling Kiprusoff to end the marathon and force a winner-take-all seventh game back in Vancouver.

Regehr was one of three Flames blueliners that played over 40 minutes (in part due to a mid-game injury to Denis Gauthier), with his 43:21 representing the most time a Flames skater has been credited with playing since the NHL began keeping ice time stats in 1997-98. The game finished just 7:34 shy of becoming the longest game in Flames history.

Game 7

The seventh game of the series took place two days later in Vancouver, and carried over much of the white-knuckle tension of the final 42:28 of extra time from Game 6. The game was tight-checking and physical. Nobody scored, for either side, for the first 32:50 of the game – which meant that Morrison’s triple overtime winner was the only goal scored in the series for a span of 75:18.

Jarome Iginla opened the scoring in the second period, only for Matt Cooke to respond 7:32 into the third period to tie the game at 1-1. Iginla scored a power play goal a few minutes later to give the Flames a 2-1 lead, and the Flames prepared to go into defend mode to ride out the period.

However, Andrew Ference was called for a slashing penalty on Henrik Sedin (which broke Ference’s own stick in the process) to send Vancouver to a power play with 1:48 left in regulation – they pulled Auld for a two-man advantage as they tried to force overtime. However, Ed Jovanovski was called for high-sticking on Rhett Warrener during a net-front battle with 27 seconds left in regulation to nullify the Canucks power play, though they kept Auld on the bench for the extra attacker as they tried to tie things up during a four-on-four stretch.

Craig Conroy won a neutral zone face-off and pushed the puck towards the Canucks’ blueline, where Iginla beat out a defender to bring the puck into their zone. As Iginla prepared to shoot towards the empty net, a Canucks fan threw a jersey onto the ice, where it landed on the face-off dot on Iginla’s side of the Vancouver zone. Iginla fired the puck towards the net, clear of the jersey, but his shot missed just outside of the near post.

“We were all screaming, ‘you’ve got to blow the play down, there’s literally a jersey on the ice,'” said Mike Commodore, one of the Flames’ blueliners at the time. (For what it’s worth, the rule in 2004 related to “debris on the ice” is essentially the same as it is now: officials are instructed to whistle the play down if the debris “interferes with progress of play.”)

Play continued, the Canucks collected Iginla’s errant shot and went up the ice. Cooke whacked Iginla’s stick out of his hands as he began tracking back through the neutral zone (in a sequence the CBC broadcast compared to Ference’s earlier penalty), and Iginla then tripped over his own stick while skating backwards. With a brief odd-man situation due to Iginla’s fall – and the extra attacker – the Canucks took advantage, and Cooke jammed a rebound off an initial Markus Naslund scoring chance past Kiprusoff to tie the game with 5.7 seconds remaining in regulation to force overtime.

You could imagine the reaction of Flames fans remembering 15 years of missed chances in the playoffs: Oh no, it’s happening again. But in the Flames’ locker room, there was no panic, as head coach Darryl Sutter rallied the troops.

“We shook it off extremely fast,” said Commodore. “I think everybody was like ‘Hey, we’ve got a great shot at this, we’re on the power play, let’s go.’ Darryl came in and said a couple of things and we were off.”

Ference’s penalty ended 12 seconds into overtime, giving the Flames a power play. About a minute into their advantage, and 1:25 into overtime, the Flames capitalized. Stephane Yelle and Iginla each had shots on net that were stopped by Auld. But Gelinas, parked beside the crease, whacked a rebound past a sprawling Auld to give the Flames a 3-2 overtime victory.

It was the first Flames playoff overtime win in nine attempts, snapping a string of eight overtime losses. Their last OT victory prior to that game was Game 6 in the 1991 playoffs against Edmonton, which was punctuated by Theo Fleury’s iconic sliding celebration.

And again, it was the first series victory for the Flames in 15 years. They had finally made it out of the first round and fans were elated.

“I remember that being an awesome moment,” said Commodore of the Vancouver series win. “Just because I wasn’t with the Flames for very long, I don’t think I really realized how big of a deal it was to fans until we got back to Calgary, everybody was fired up.”

Playoff demons were exorcised in the Vancouver series, but the craziness of that playoff run was just beginning.

Editorials

Recent articles from Ryan Pike

Instant Reaction: Flames out-score the Wild in return home

Flames Game Day 29: Back at home to face the Wild (7pm MT, SN1)

The Wranglers are nearly done their mammoth road trip

Game 6

Game 7

Recent articles from Ryan Pike

Breaking News