Flames and Stars ready to start the playoffs
Posted Aug 11, 2020 7:27 am.
EDMONTON – The Calgary Flames officially start the Stanley Cup Playoffs shooting for the stars.
Round one of the Stanley Cup playoffs begins Tuesday afternoon as the Flames play game one of a best-of-seven series against the Dallas Stars.
This is the first time in over 30 years the two teams have met in the playoffs. In Calgary’s first NHL post-season, in 1981, the Flames and Minnesota North Stars met in the conference finals.
The North Stars won that series in six games before being ousted by the New York Islanders in the Stanley Cup Final.
Though Calgary wrapped up the regular season with the 20th-ranked offence, they were trending up and were a top-seven unit from Jan. 1 on, after Geoff Ward had time to settle things following a mid-season coaching change.
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The Stars, with one of the stingiest defences in the league, backed by a 2019 Vezina Trophy finalist, will be tough competition.
Captain Mark Giordano pointed to Ward’s leadership and tweaks to the defensive schemes as the Flames went 24-15-3 after Ward replaced Bill Peters in late November.
“He’s brought our group way closer together. Just a guy who demands respect. He’s been there, he’s won before, so his words carry a lot of weight. For him to come in and change our D-zone and tighten it up, I believe we’re a better defensive team than we were before the break. Credit to him for having the guts to make that change and credit to the guys for buying in.”
Calgary got goals from 11 different skaters while outscoring the Winnipeg Jets 16-6 in their qualifying round series.
The Stars, meantime, came out of the round-robin with a 1-2-0 record, finishing as the third seed after a 2-1 shootout win against St. Louis.
The Stars’ offence ranked 26th in the regular season and managed only three goals in the four round-robin games while Calgary had the NHL’s second-best offence from Feb. 1 to the pause and scored more than anyone in the qualifying round.
You can catch game one of this series starting at 3:30 p.m., Tuesday afternoon, on Sportsnet 960 The Fan or watch it in Sportsnet.
