Flames Know Way To San Jose 

Sweep Opening Two Games of Conference Final 

May 11th, 2004
RICK CHARLTON

The shifty eyes of the formerly ultra-confident Ron Wilson told the whole story.

You'd look bewildered too if you'd lost your team somewhere on the way to the rink.

Whatever happened to the Sharks who dominated much of Game One of this Western Conference final series with Calgary?

Wherever they disappeared to, the imposters Wilson dressed for the opening period last night in San Jose were a brutal replacement, the gang from Calgary revving up their own game to supersonic and putting the lights out on the Sharks early while gaining an improbable 2-0 series lead with a 4-1 victory.

This was prototypical Flames hockey, a controlled effort yet played at high speed and a far cry from the much looser run and gun game that opened this series, Calgary very much imposing its defensive game on the listless Sharks, the latter waking up too late to save themselves then fading without a peep into the night when the going got tough.

It seems impossible to believe now, five weeks into the post-season, that the Calgary Flames, whom many felt wouldn't even make the playoffs, now sit only two wins away from challenging for the Stanley Cup itself.

Woof!!

While there were many questions as to whether or not Calgary deserved to win the opening game in this series and San Jose coach Ron Wilson was certainly on hand to remind you of that fact, there was little doubt in this game which was the better team through 60 minutes.

"I think we were extremely proud of our first period," said Andrew Ference on FAN960 after the game. "We followed through in the third."

We were a lot better in our zone," said Flames coach Darryl Sutter after the game. "I thought our two centermen, Yelle and Nilson, were two really good players for us tonight."

While the Flames did rely on a few large saves from uber-goalie Miikka Kiprusoff, those quality chances surrendered to San Jose were no more than might have been expected in a game where the Flames largely stymied any effort the Sharks made to gain any momentum.

Kiprusoff has been virtually unbeatable this season in games where Calgary surrenders fewer than 25 shots, San Jose managing only 18 in this game with few of the relatively hair-raising kind.

Kiprusoff and the Flames are now 9-1 this playoff year in games where they surrender two or fewer goals, carrying on their season long trend of dominance when they have their house in order.

Perhaps emblematic of this game was the shift following San Jose's only goal, an early second period marker by Alyn McCauley, where the Flames came back the next shift to dominate with the line of Martin Gelinas, Craig Conroy and Jarome Iginla.

Much of the credit for the 2-0 series lead in this series, aside from kudos to Kiprusoff, has to go to Calgary's second line of Marcus Nilson, Shean Donovan and Ville Nieminen, the trio dominating offensively for the second game in a row.

"If it wasn't for our depth, we wouldn't even be in the playoffs," admitted Ference.

The dominating effort of that trio seemed to spring free the previously smothered Iginla, the latter notching his first goal of the series and having several other opportunities to score.

Calgary is now a heroic 7-2 on the road in this playoff year, an incredible stat in itself, heading home with the hammer in this series. Flames won their fourth playoff game in a row.

The Flames opened the scoring, a double banker, Marcus Nilson wheeling into the San Jose zone and rocketing a shot that deflected off two Shark defencemen then behind Evgeny Nabokov, stunning the crowd of 17,496 into submission with one of the fastest opening goal of a playoff game in Calgary Flames history, tying Joey Mullen's record set in 1986.

The Flames never looked back, bowling over the hapless and confused Sharks throughout the period, Calgary cementing its lead at 2-0 lead on a pretty play by Calgary's second line.

Nilson started a breakout with a beautiful pass up the middle to a curling Ville Nieminen who tapped a short pass onto the stick of a streaking Shean Donovan, the latter executing his by now familiar deke and curl around the outstretched pad of Nabokov at 10:35.

San Jose found their game in the second period, McCauley finally solving the riddle of Kiprusoff with a one-timer bullet over the Flame netminders shoulder at 5:26.

The goal seemed to give the Sharks a lift although the Flames battled them essentially even through the middle frame of the game before the Flames blew two through Nabokov in the third period.

Nieminen broke loose on a two on one at 12:35 of the third, tailing towards the centre of the ice and then looking pass while shooting over the outstretched blocker of an unprepared Nabokov.

Iginla added the final blow at 13:19, cutting down the wing and blistering a wrist shot past the blocker of Nabokov, extending his playoff scoring streak to six games.

This is the game the Flames might have been looking for in the opener, showing the Sharks they can easily skate with them if not dominate them, while adding a physical element San Jose might not have.

As to coach Wilson, the rhetoric coming out of the post-game scrum was different than his opening statements. He had ample reason to be cocky then but none after this one.

"He (Wilson after game one) was right in a lot of aspects," said Ference matter-of-factly. "They did play a strong game. He had every right to give his team that strong credit. We picked up our game a lot this time around."

And now its back to Calgary Thursday night, the wild Saddledome awaiting the Flames with no doubt a huge reception, the local boys having the chance to put a hammerlock on an opportunity to advance to the Stanley Cup finals for the first time since 1989.

And who woulda thunk that in October.