Game 3 - Ducks @ Flames RECAP: AHHHHHHH

Still can’t believe that happened. Someone must have offered a blood sacrifice to the hockey gods as the Ducks have really not deserved to win the last two games based on their play, yet here we are; with a 3-0 lead and the Calgary Flames on the verge of being swept.

Didn’t watch the game and want to know how it happened? Watched the game and pooped your pants multiple times but you want to relive that feeling for some reason?

Read on!

1st Period

The Ducks had to have some sort of an inkling that the Flames would come out screaming after a hard fought first two games in the series.

Clearly they had no idea just how loud they would be.

The Ducks looked like they hadn't even arrived at the Saddledome yet when Sean Monahan made it 1-0 Flames 2:10 into the first period on a power play set off by a Nick Ritchie interference penalty. No one covering him standing right in front of Gibson, and Brouwer fed it him for an easy one timer.

It would get even uglier when Kris Versteeg scored a second goal on the power play after mass chaos in front of the net. The Ducks undisciplined play would come back to bite them hard.

Even with a lack of calls going the Ducks way, Anaheim still did a very poor job of staying out of the box. And it came back to haunt them.

Fortunately, Nick Ritchie atoned for his sins with 4 minutes left in the period putting home a rebound off a Vermette shot when we crashed the net making it a one goal game.

2nd Period

The Ducks looked to come out in the second period with cleaner play and more giddy up in their skating. However, Michael Stone gave the Flames a two goal lead off a fade-away shot past a screened Gibson.

Unfortunately disciplined play didn’t happen as the Ducks took an additional two penalties. On the second Calgary man advantage, Sam Bennet gave them a 4-1 lead. With that goal, Carlyle chose to send a message to his team by pulling John Gibson and replacing him with Jonathan Bernier. None of those goals could be put on Gibson, however, so it’s not expected at all that the young netminder has lost his starting spot.

Continued poor play and being out-skated by Calgary didn’t help until Shea Theodore, who’s been having a monster series so far, scored on a shot from the blue line that Brian Elliot completely whiffed on. Meanwhile, everyone was focused on Corey Perry trying to take on the entire Calgary bench when they wouldn’t let him retrieve his stick over the boards. That put the score at 4-2 and allowed the Ducks to finally gain some momentum.

3rd Period

The Ducks finally began playing like the hockey team that hasn’t lost in regulation since March 10th (spoiler alert!). Randy Carlyle had his guys constantly crashing the net to create havoc in front.

The Ducks broke through again on a controversial goal by Nate Thompson who got a stick on a Theodore point shot to make it 4-3. The goal went to Toronto to review for a potential high stick. It looked as though it could have been disallowed, but Toronto deemed the goal goal good and said they couldn’t find conclusive evidence to overturn the call on the ice.

Anaheim would then snap the Flames 33 game win streak when leading after two periods when Shea Theodore’s shot from the blue line got through Elliot after he was screened by Corey Perry. Tie game.

Jonathan Bernier came through for the Ducks with play reminiscent of his March run in which he posted 10 wins while covering for an injured John Gibson.

With that, the match in Calgary became the fourth game out of four to go into overtime on the day.

Overtime

Good thing there’s no 3 on 3 in the playoffs! Who wants to think about what it would be like if the Ducks played 3 on 3 in the playoffs?

No?

I don’t blame you.

Just 1:30 into the overtime period, Corey Perry threw a puck on net from down low along the boards. Nate Thompson created havoc in front of Elliot which allowed Perry’s bad-angle shot to hit off of Michael Stone and into the net.

The Ducks had come all the way back from a 4-1 deficit (let the memes begin!) to beat the Calgary Flames but the final score of 5-4.

The Ducks will look to finish off the sweep of the Flames on Wednesday at the Saddledome.