Stanley Cup Playoffs: Round 2 Winners and Matchups to Watch
Flames Defense vs. Ducks Top Line
The Flames have defied advanced statistics the entire season and get a chance to stun the West’s top-seeded Ducks in the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. In their series against the Vancouver Canucks, Calgary had an even or positive total Corsi For Percentage (CF%) at even strength once -- Kris Russell’s -39.
It's well known that Anaheim’s top line of Corey Perry, Ryan Getzlaf and another winger –- Jiri Sekac and Patrick Maroon mainly over the past 10 games –- will be looking to exploit the Flames' defense to gain an edge. Believe it or not, the Flames’ bottom pairing of David Schlemko and Tyler Wotherspoon has the best shots against total among the three pairings at -1. Assuming the Ducks want their top line against bottom-six forwards and the bottom defensive pairing, this would be the series to monitor that plan closer than usual.
The Flames depend on their top four D-men of Russell, T.J. Brodie, Dennis Wideman and Deryk Engelland more than they’d prefer to after the loss of Mark Giordano for the season. Not to pick on Engelland, but his 76 regular season games this season and 20:53 of ice time per game in the playoffs are career highs only because of Giordano’s injury. His job has been to play sparingly (14:20 career average ice time per game), hit people, and contribute offensively if it's necessary (0.88 career shots per game). The only time he should see time against the opponent’s best players is when he’s being exploited in certain situations, not as a top-four defensemen like he's being utilized now.
If the Flames can slow down the Ducks’ top line, their chance of advancing to the Western Conference Final improves greatly.
Keep an eye on: Jonas Hiller, who gets a chance to knock off his former team. Each series has at least one good emotional story to pay attention to, and this is it. Hiller has a career .932 save percentage in 32 playoff games including a .931 clip in his first postseason with the Flames.
numberFire Algorithm Pick: Anaheim Ducks (53.14%)
