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Ducks aim to finish Flames, erase postseason failures

Sunday, 05.10.2015 / 3:54 PM

By Corey Masisak - NHL.com Staff Writer / Ducks-Flames series blog

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Ducks aim to finish Flames, erase postseason failures

ANAHEIM -- The Anaheim Ducks have won seven games in the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs, equaling their win total from the 2014 playoffs.

Anaheim will have its first chance to secure win No. 8 and advance to the Western Conference Final when it faces the Calgary Flames in Game 5 of this Western Conference Second Round series Sunday at Honda Center (10 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, TVA Sports).

Coach Bruce Boudreau said the Ducks have a chance to make amends for failing to defeat the Los Angeles Kings after taking a 3-2 series lead in the second round in 2014.

"I think they are more composed than we were last year. I think the experience, as much as we didn't like it in the end, helped us," Boudreau said Sunday. "I think that is a really big positive. I thought last year we played six really good games in round two and if things had gone our way we could've ended it in five as well. But we lost to the Stanley Cup champions and we didn't have a good Game 7.

"I think that lingered with us and most of the group all year. They would like to make amends. Whether we do or we don't remains to be seen, but I think they'd like to make amends for that."

The Ducks have not reached the conference final since winning the Stanley Cup in 2007. For Boudreau, it would be his first trip to the NHL's final four as a coach.

For many of the young Ducks players, it would help ease the pain from the past two postseasons. Anaheim led their 2013 first-round series against the Detroit Red Wings 3-2 but lost in seven games. They had the same result in 2014 against the Kings.

"If you look back at the couple games we've had a chance to eliminate different teams, we just didn't do the job," Ducks forward Kyle Palmieri said. "They brought the play to us in those games, and you put yourself in a tough spot. I remember Game 6 against the Kings last year. I think after winning two straight at Staples Center and then Game 5 here, I don't know if we took our foot off the gas because it wasn't do or die, but we just didn't have what it took to close a team like L.A. out. Hopefully we can bring our best in this game and close this thing out."

Anaheim was able to close out the Winnipeg Jets in the first round, completing a four-game sweep after grabbing a 3-0 series lead. Now the Ducks have a chance to finish the Flames after winning Game 4 of the best-of-7 series at Scotiabank Saddledome on Friday.

"It is just a different mindset," Palmieri said. "In these playoffs I've noticed it is like we have a little chip-on-our-shoulder kind of attitude that nothing is going to stop us. And so far it has worked pretty well for us."

Here are the projected lineups:

FLAMES

Johnny Gaudreau - Sean Monahan - Jiri Hudler

Sam Bennett - Mikael Backlund - Joe Colborne

Lance Bouma - Matt Stajan - David Jones

Brandon Bollig - Josh Jooris - Mason Raymond

Kris Russell - Dennis Wideman

TJ Brodie - Deryk Engelland

David Schlemko - Raphael Diaz

Karri Ramo

Jonas Hiller

Scratched: Drew Shore, Corey Potter, Markus Granlund, David Wolf, Tyler Wotherspoon

Injured: Ladislav Smid (upper body), Mark Giordano (bicep), Paul Byron (lower body), Micheal Ferland (undisclosed)

DUCKS

Patrick Maroon - Ryan Getzlaf - Corey Perry

Matt Beleskey - Ryan Kesler - Jakob Silfverberg

Tomas Fleischmann - Rickard Rakell - Andrew Cogliano

Kyle Palmieri - Nate Thompson - Tim Jackman

Hampus Lindholm - Francois Beauchemin

Cam Fowler - Simon Despres

Sami Vatanen - Clayton Stoner

Frederik Andersen

John Gibson

Scratched: James Wisniewski, Korbinian Holzer, Jiri Sekac, Jason LaBarbera, Emerson Etem

Injured: None

Status report: The Ducks likely will keep the same lineup as Game 4, which means Fleischmann remains in the lineup and Etem stays a healthy scratch. "I think Emerson is in the same boat now, dying to get back in the lineup," Boudreau said. "I thought Tomas, we put him in different situations like 4-on-4, he killed penalties, played right wing. He also can play center. So with him I've got versatility. When you win it is hard to justify changing the lineup because then you're trying to outguess yourself and I'm not very good at that."

Who's hot: Silfverberg had a goal and an assist in Game 4, and has five points in his past five games.

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