All three games have been one-goal contests, none more exciting than Monday's thrilling 5-4 comeback victory in overtime. Down 4-1, the Ducks clawed their way back in their biggest postseason comeback in franchise history. Nate Thompson had a goal and finished with a game-high three points, rookie Shea Theodore scored his first postseason goal as part of a two-goal night, and Corey Perry capped it off with his second career overtime goal in the postseason (also Game 5 of 2015 Second Round vs. Calgary). Perry joined Nick Bonino, Paul Kariya, Scott Niedermayer and Petr Sykora as the only players in franchise history to score two playoff overtime goals.
The Ducks have opened the postseason with wins in the first three games of a series on four occasions, including the current series vs. Calgary, 2015 vs. Winnipeg, 2007 vs. Minnesota and 2003 vs. Detroit. Anaheim is also 11-0 in its last 11 playoff games and 14-1 in its last 15 when scoring three goals or more. The Ducks enter tonight's game with a 16-9 all-time record in Game 4, marking the club's best win percentage (.640) of any game in a seven-game series. As for the Flames, this represents the 36th Game 4 in franchise history. The club is 14-21 all-time in the fourth game of a playoff series.
"You always have to put yourself in the opposition's position," said Ducks head coach Randy Carlyle. "You know you're going to get their best. Their pride, their fans - all of that is going to be on display. I expect we'll see their best game of the series."
Anaheim's success over the last 17 games is worth noting. The Ducks have gone 11-0-3 in the regular season and 3-0 in the playoffs, and have not lost in regulation since March 10 at St. Louis. Anaheim has also posted a 32-11-7 record in the last 50 games (29-11-7 regular season, 3-0 playoffs) and a 17-2-3 mark in the last 22 contests (14-2-3 regular season, 3-0 playoffs).
"This is one of the strongest teams I've ever played on," said Ducks right wing Jakob Silfverberg. "We've managed to find ways to win. This team has something going."
Silfverberg says he knows Calgary is going to leave it all on the line tonight. "This is going to be the toughest game for both teams," he said. "But if we can end this series here, we need to end it."
Ducks left wing Nick Ritchie adds, "Any time you have an elimination game, you want to end it that night. You don't want it to go on. They'll be fighting for their lives, so it's going to be tough, but our goal is to close this out as soon as possible."
