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Three Story Lines to Keep in Mind for Anaheim Ducks (0-0) v Calgary Flames (0-0) Game 1

By Richard Spalding

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The Ducks should be considered the team to beat in the West, but it won’t be easy.  Here’s what to look for tonight.

It’s game day again, everyone – FINALLY.

The Western Conference Semifinals begin tonight when the Anaheim Ducks host the Calgary Flames at 10 p.m. (7 Pacific) in the Honda Center.  But you already knew that, didn’t you?

Of course you did, you savvy Ducks fans you!

Hopefully, this is the year that Bruce Boudreau can guide the Ducks past the second round.  Getting a win in Game 1 will go a long way toward helping dream become a reality . . . but there are a few factors to be aware of tonight, starting with . . .

The Rust Factor

It may be a bit of a cliché to talk about a team playing rusty following an extended hiatus, but I know I was not the only one on Twitter expressing some concern over how sharp the Ducks would look for Game 1.

The Ducks have not played since last Wednesday, while Calgary’s Round 1 series with the Vancouver Canucks just ended Saturday.   There’s no doubt that Anaheim will be the fresher team, but Calgary could wind up having the early advantage when it comes to chemistry and execution.  Frederik Andersen better be hot early, because it might take the Ducks 20 minutes to shake off the rust . . . and by then they’ll be in the second period, and we all know what that means:

Photo courtesy of Toms River Fire Dept. at Flickr

 Jonas Hiller = Motivated

Obviously, every player who makes it to the conference semifinals is motivated, so throwing around this buzz word is sort of useless.  Still, going up against the team that lost confidence in your abilities and let you go during the offseason has to add fuel to the fire – right, Jonas?

"At the end, you want nothing more than to beat that team and prove to them they made a mistake not re-signing you."

Hiller has nearly identical numbers this postseason when compared to his former teammate, as his save percentage (.931) and GAA (2.20) are either just slightly better or tied with Andersen’s (.924 , 2.20).  It should be pointed out, however, that Hiller got yanked after giving up two relatively soft goals in Calgary’s Game 6 win against the Canucks, and that Anaheim has already faced him four times this year, with Hiller going 1-2-0 with a 3.43 GAA and an .889 save percentage.

Problem is, that might just motivate him even more.

History

The Anaheim Ducks have not lost a regular season game to the Calgary Flames at the Honda Center since 2004, going 20-0-0 against the Flames during that stretch.  As a matter of fact, the Flames are only 8-24-6-7 in Anaheim since the Ducks joined the NHL in 1993.

Yeah – you could say the city of Anaheim is the one place that the Calgary Flames absolutely do not want to playing in the postseason.

Still, regular season statistics mean little to nothing come playoff time, and besides, those were different Flames teams.

The recent history I am most interested in?  Anaheim has not made it past the second round of the playoffs the past three seasons, despite coming into each of those playoffs as one of the top seeds in the West.  Will Anaheim feel the weight of those failures on its shoulders?  Or are these Ducks determined to make this their year?

How this team comes out tonight will tell us all we need to know.

Make sure you follow us @pucksofafeather as I live Tweet throughout the game tonight, and while you are at it give @HockeyInHeelsTV a follow, too!  And as always, check back in with us before and after the game as we try to give you the most interesting Anaheim Ducks’ coverage you can find!

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