Reddevil45

Johannesburg • South Africa • 15 Years Old • Male

Calgary Flames against Anaheim Ducks:Series Prediction

After the Flames qualified for their first postseason since 2009 they won their first playoff round since they made the Stanley Cup Final in 2004. Their opponent this time is the Western Conference champions the Anaheim Ducks a team they have not beaten at the Honda Center in their last 20 straight regular season games (0-15-5) and 2 out of 3 in the 2006 playoffs. Both the Ducks and Flames have shown this season that they don’t give up without a fight. The Ducks won 12 games after trailing after two periods and the Flames won 10 in the regular season. In the playoffs the Ducks came from behind in the 3rd period in three out of the four games they played and the Flames did it twice trailing 1-0 in game 1 and 3-0 after 9 minutes and 4-3 heading into the 3rd period in game 6. Jonas Hiller will face his old team in this season having been signed by the Flames on free after the Ducks didn’t resign him. Hiller will be going up against Fredrick Anderson, who is in his second playoff season, took over the goaltending job this season due to the departure of Hiller. Both goaltenders have been very good in the playoffs this season with a couple bumps along the way. Anderson has only allowed one goal from the third period onwards which is where the Flames score most of their goals. The Flames top line (Jiri Hudler, Johnny Gaudreau, Sean Monahan) were criticised during the Vancouver series but they responded by getting a combined 10 points in game 6 to lift the Flames past the Canucks and hopefully past the Ducks as well. Michael Ferland has 4 points and 40 hits in the playoffs this season. He intimidated the Canucks with his hitting and will hope to do the same to the Ducks. Corey Perry showed during their series with the Jets that he can lead the Ducks to victory. He had 7 points in 4 games, 1GWG and scored 3 times and 16 shots (18.8 S%)

This will be a hard gruelling series that could easily go the distance, with many predicting the Ducks to win. In game 1 the Flames curse will continue. Hiller will play well but the Flames offense won’t be able to support him resulting in the loss. The Flames will take game 2 with Hiller performing in similar fashion to game 1 but this time the Flames offense will do just enough to sneak past the Ducks in overtime. Much of the same will happen in game 3 with the Flames coming out on top this time in regulation with an empty netter. Game 4 will be a blowout for the Ducks in front of the Flames home crowd due to an abysmal performance form Jonas Hiller. Game 5 will go to the Ducks thanks to a Corey Perry OT winner and great goaltending from Anderson. Hiller will play much better but Anderson will outplay him. The Flames will win game 6 to force the series to go back to Anaheim for game 7. The Flames top line will play brilliantly in game 6 (yet again). Game 7 will be an absolute thriller with both teams giving it their all. There will be great all round play from both teams but the Flames just be able to edge the Ducks thanks to the top line and Jonas Hiller.

Series: 4-3 Flames
Game 1: 2-1 Ducks
Game 2:3-2 Flames
Game 3:4-1 Flames
Game 4: 5-2 Ducks
Game 5:3-2 Ducks
Game 6: 5-4 Flames
Game 7: 5-3 Flames

All Stats from NHL.com