Anaheim Advances to Western Finals

Corey Perry scored 2:26 into overtime and Anaheim advanced to the Western Conference Finals with a 3-2 victory.

It didn’t look like Perry would even finish the game after a bruising hit in the second period that sent him to the bench.

But he was back when the team needed him and the Ducks won the series 4-1.

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When Perry stepped back on the ice near the end of the second period, the 17,284 people at Honda Center erupted and chanted his name.

In some ways, Perry’s goal saved the Ducks this game, and maybe this series. Anaheim has been the better team than Calgary throughout this series. The Flames’ only win came after a fluky set of events triggered an altering in the space-time continuum in Game 3.

On Sunday, Anaheim again was better. Calgary’s only real, legit goal was Jiri Hudler’s power play score on the second part of a four-minute double-minor on Ryan Kesler for high sticking in the first period. Johnny Gaudreau’s goal at the 5:55 mark of the second period that put Calgary up 2-1, deflected off Ryan Getzlaf’s stick and past Ducks goaltender Frederik Andersen. It was a good hockey goal, but not a clean goal.

Matt Beleskey equalized for the Ducks at the 59 second mark of the third period.

The Ducks out-shot the Flames  47-19. From an advanced stat perspective, the Ducks’ out-Corsi’d the Flames 76-32 even strength per Naturalstattrick. They beat the Flames in advanced metrics except for Game 3.

In the NHL, the margin of victory and defeat is so small that all teams have a chance. The Flames did and were a goal in overtime away from sending this series back to Calgary for a Game 6. Fortunately for Anaheim, the Ducks players realized this and knew it was probably a bad idea.