It's down to a coin-flip. As noted over at Inside the Flames recently, this has been the most evenly matched series in the first round. Through the first six games, both teams have scored the same amount of goals, won the same amount of games, have had the same GD in their victories. Hell, the Flames and Sharks both have 9 GF at ES and 4GF at 5on4!
Perfectly symmetrical. Like boxing your reflection. And considering where I was before the series began, I couldn't really ask for much more than this -- an even chance to advance.
Calgary played a near perfect game on Sunday. They limited the Sharks chances, out-shot and out-hit them and stayed out of the penalty box. It would have been nice to see Alex Tanguay bury that golden opportunity in the first period so he shake that monkey he's been carrying the last week or so. Alas...
Wasn't it nice to have a functional fourth line (for the first time in recent memory) last game? My anonymous phone threats and letter bombs obviously got through to Keenan and he sat Godard in favor of a 7-d rotation. The resultant "enegry" line of Primeau, Moss and Nystrom was generally effective: they didn't spend inordinate amounts of time trapped in their own zone and actually generated some havoc for the Sharks at the other end. Hell, there was even a scoring chance or two squeezed in there, which is pure gravy when it comes to the bottom of the roster. Particularly the bottom of the Flames roster.
An ancillary benefit of playing all 12 forwards was a more even distribution of ice-time across the forwards ranks - Moss, Nyzerman and Primeau all played between 8 and 10 minutes - meaning a less beat-up and worn out Jarome Iginla for tonight's contest. Good news for certain.
The development of a reliable support cast is an encouraging one for me since I tend to take the view that the game and series isn't going to be won by the big guns so much as lost by the secondary players (if that makes any sense). The Flames have some elite talent up front, in the net and even on the back-end. Regehr, Iginla and Kipper are pretty much guaranteed to perform. It's the Eriksson's, Primeaus, Yelles and Aucoins that worry me as a Flames fan. It's the questionable Hale pass or another bad Bubba pinch that may end up making the difference, especially in such a hotly contested and evenly matched series.
The Sharks have ballers too: Thornton, Marleau, Clowe (!?), Nabokov, but they also have similar "issues": Brian Campbell seems to think the spin-o-rama is the best play by default at almost any place on the ice or time in the game. Milan Michalek is so snake bitten he's probably been soliciting teammates to suck out the poison during the intermissions...and Jody Shelly, well...he would lose to Eric Godard in a foot-race (not that Eric would win. They would both somehow lose simultaneously).
So while San Jose fans may be in search of a hero, chances are they'll just be cheering for one less screw-up. Just as I will.
Line-up notes:
I can't imagine Keenan changing anything after the victory on Sunday. Expect Godard and Boyd to sit, with Vandermeer taking spot duty up front and on the back-end. No doubt Wilson will try to get Thornton away from Iginla and Regehr this evening, likely through some crafty double-shifting type shenanigans. I said it above, but it bears repeating...if the Flames support guys can weather that storm and keep the galactic F-ups to a minimum, I like their chances in this game.
Prediction - yeah right.
GO FLAMES!
