Matt Beleskey’s third period goal broke a 2-2 tie, and Patrick Maroon’s empty net goal sealed the victory as the Anaheim Ducks beat the Calgary Flames by a score of 4-2 in Game 4 Friday night.
The win moves the Ducks to within one victory of a Western Conference Final showdown with the Chicago Blackhawks, who finished off a sweep of the Minnesota Wild on Thursday.
The third game of the series saw precious few scoring opportunities, but the opening minutes of Game 4 had the feel of an Oprah Winfrey special as the goals were scored in fast and furious fashion. Jakub Silfverberg opened up the scoring for the Ducks on an early power play, with Francois Beauchemin’s stretch pass setting everything up and Ryan Kesler eventually finding the winger on the edge as the Ducks took a 1-0 lead.
Just a few moments later, the Flames scored to tie things up. Johnny Gaudreau hit the blue line with speed on the play, and even though his rush to the net was stopped by Frederik Andersen, Sean Monahan was there to clean up the mess as he lifted a rebound shot into the back of the cage to make it a 1-1 game.
The Flames once again used their speed around the edge a few minutes later as they grabbed the lead. Micheal Ferlund got the puck just inside the offensive blue line for Calgary, and his shot beat Andersen shortside as the Flames seized a 2-1 advantage.
After the wild and crazy start to the game, things began to settle down as the first period ended, but the second period saw a nasty, physical edge take hold. The hits flew and the shot totals dropped considerably over that frame, and even matching minor penalties to Deryk Engelland and Nate Thompson didn’t seem to cause the offenses to come back to life.
The Flames committed another penalty with about six minutes to go in the period as they were whistled for too many men, and this time the Ducks made them pay as they tied the game up just after the infraction expired. Gaudreau tried stick-handling the puck in front of his net, and Andrew Cogliano forced a turnover. Kyle Palmieri pushed the puck back to him in the slot, and Cogliano flipped home a shot to make it a 2-2 game after 40 minutes of play.
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As the Ducks started their power play in the third period, they got a couple of good scoring chances and were able to convert to take the lead. Silfverberg fired in a shot from the left face-off dot, and when his attempt was stopped, Matt Beleskey netted his fourth goal of the series as he tossed in the rebound to give the Ducks a 3-2 edge.
The Ducks weren’t able to convert on the other half of the double-minor penalty to Colborne, and things went from bad to worse as Palmieri and Cogliano were each sent off for minor penalties. In spite of a nearly minute-long 5-on-3 situation, the Flames were unable to score, and Anaheim maintained their lead.
The Flames started to generate more opportunities at even strength late in the game, but ultimately it wasn’t enough as Maroon’s empty net goal sealed the victory and put the Ducks within one win of advancing.
Game 5 will take place on Sunday night at the Honda Center, with puck drop scheduled for 7:00 p.m. local time.
