As the NHL season came to a close, I kept telling myself that if they could just make the playoffs, that was more than anyone expected of the Flames this season. And they did that.
Then I just wanted to beat their arch-rival Canucks in the first round. And they did that.
Then I just wanted them to have a strong performance against the Ducks in Round Two, break a 20+ game losing streak in the Honda Centre in Anaheim and then maybe anything could happen. But after three chances to do so, the Flames couldn’t break the streak and tonight, ended up losing 4 games to 1 in the series and the Cinderella season of all-time came to a deflating end.
Why deflating? Well, the winning Ducks goal in OT was scored by a guy with a reputation for diving and embellishment. (As one person on Twitter observed, Corey Perry appeared to have made a 6-9 month recovery in one shift after taking a knee-on-knee hit.)
Perry’s comeback to score the winner and a few bad calls by the refs against the Flames and not the Ducks (personal pet peeve – how the NHL changes the level of enforcement of rules, not just from game-to-game by period-to-period. Things that are penalties in the first are rarely in the third and so on) put a damper on the night but ultimately, the Flames lost to the better team.
Beyond that, this has been an amazing season – perhaps the best season of hockey I’ve watched since I was a kid.
The Flames have drawn a lot of comparisons to the Chicago Blackhawks that won the Stanley Cup in 2010 and 2013 with players like Johnny Gaudreau (Patrick Kane), Sean Monahan (Jonathan Toews) and Jiri Hudler (Patrick Sharp), Mark Giordano (Brent Seabrook) as well as using a combination of goalies rather than a clear #1 and #2. Of course the Flames also have Brandon Bollig who was also effective for the Hawks when he played for them – all of which adds up to a lot of echoes of what makes a successful team that can go all the way. 😉
And with nominations for Lady Byng (Jiri Hudler), Calder (Johnny Gaudreau) and Jack Adams (Bob Hartley) plus someone who likely would’ve been nominated for the Norris if he didn’t get injured late in the season (Mark Giordano) plus a huge cupboard full of draft picks, tons of prospects who stepped up all year, the future looks very bright in Cowtown indeed!
I can’t wait for October…
