How Sweep It Is

The Ducks dispatched their first round playoff opponents from Winnipeg, four games to nil. They advanced to the Pacific Division finals against an upstart Calgary Flames team. Now that the opening series is safely in the rear view mirror, there are some observations about the series I wanted to share.

Dumb Penalties vs. Needless Penalties

During the regular season Anaheim had its share of both dumb penalties and needless penalties. There is a big difference between the two. In the opening series, dumb penalties weren't totally eliminated, but most of the needless ones were. A dumb penalty covers situations such as (but not limited to) being caught out of position and resorting to hooking, tripping or holding the opponent. The Ducks lessened these types of mistakes and played a more sound two way game.

Needless penalties cover situations like retaliating against an opponent for a perceived slight or taking a run at an opponent along the boards when he doesn't have the puck. Winnipeg tried very hard to bait the Ducks into taking these infractions, but the Ducks ,to their credit, didn't bite. They went into the series with a mindset of “Winnipeg will try to play us very physically, but we are a better team and don't need to give the guys in blue and white any additional chances to stick around.”

Freddie!

Frederik Anderson was well the Freddie the Ducks have come to count on against the Jets. Aside from an iffy performance in game three in front of a fired up Winnipeg crowd, he was outstanding. Even if he wasn't, did anyone think Bruce Boudreau would turn to Jason LaBarbera? Andersen finished the four game set with 2.20 goals against per game and a .924 save percentage. He erased any doubt about who the team's number one goalie is.

Seth Rollins and Triple H

I wrote in a previous blog and it bears repeating; Cory Perry and Ryan Kesler were the clear cut villains on the ice in Winnipeg. Watching Kesler's final two goals to put game four in the bag for Anaheim, reminded me of many a Monday Night Raw episode, where the heel hits a “devastating” finishing move against the babyface to close the show.

Projections

A Different Animal

It safe to say that the Flames style is the antithesis of the Jets. Winnipeg wanted to slow down the Ducks and play them hard physically. Calgary will play uptempo and make the Ducks use all 200 feet of the rink. What separates the Ducks from most of the other NHL teams this year is that they can play both styles, tight and physical or fast and wide open. This series may be one of the most entertaining of the entire 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Adapting

The playoffs are all about matchups. Anaheim will certainly make personnel changes for this series. Part due to health reasons and part due to the opponent. John Gibson looks good to go for the series and will back up Andersen in goal. If the situation warrants it, Boudreau should do his best to get Gibson a start in this series to shake some of the rust off.

On defense, James Wisniewski was the odd man out against Winnipeg as Boudreau opted to go with Simon Despres as Cam Fowler’s partner. This time around, Wisniewski will be in the lineup for most games. The way to go here is to rotate Despres, Wisniewski and maybe Clayton Stoner; playing two of the three on a given night. Unless the blue line corps falls victim to a slew of injuries, its unlikely Korbinian Holzer will make his Ducks debut this postseason.

There will be changes to the forward unit as well. Nate Thompson returns from injury to center the fourth line. His toughness will probably put either Tim Jackman or Emerson Etem on the bench on any given night. This matchup against Calgary seems tailor made for left wing Jiri Sekac to excel. Reuniting him with Perry and Getzlaf on the top line could give the Flames fits defensively. If Sekac is in, Pat Maroon could slide down to any other line and the shakeout would bump out one of the above mentioned Etem or Jackman. Tomas Fleischmann did well filling in for Thompson in games three and four and may get rewarded with a start on the wing.

My expected lineup is as follows:

Forwards
Sekac-Getzlaf-Perry
Beleskey-Kesler-Palmieri
Cogliano-Rakell-Silfverberg
Maroon-Thompson-Fleischmann/Jackman

Defensemen
Lindholm-Beauchemin
Fowler-Wisniewski/Despres
Stoner/Wisniewski-Vatanen

Goalies
Andersen
Gibson

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