A very even, entertaining Western Conference quarterfinal unfortunately has to end on Tuesday night when the Flames visit San Jose for Game 7, with the Sharks -190 money line betting favorites (over/under: 5) on WagerWeb.com.
The good news for San Jose is it has won two homes games already this series. The bad news is the Sharks will be facing a suddenly hot goalie: Calgary’s Miikka Kiprusoff blanked San Jose in Sunday’s 2-0 victory, his first playoff shutout since the 2004 Stanley Cup final series with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Kiprusoff was uneven heading into Game 6: He won Game 1 in the Shark Tank, stopping 37 of 39 shots. He was yanked in Game 3 in favor of veteran backup Curtis Joseph after surrendering three goals on just five shots. Then the shutout.
"A goalie has to give his team a chance to win, plain and simple. It's one game ... and we have to win it," he said of forcing Game 7.
Calgary star Jarome Iginla (3 goals, 5 assists in the series) expects a physical game tonight.
”When you see it could be the last day of the year, it’s a different feeling and we realize they’ll be going through it themselves, so it’ll be two desperate hockey clubs,” Iginla said Monday. “We want to do the same things we did in Game 6 but we know it’s going to be more physical, they’ll be blocking more shots. It’ll be those little things that aren’t always seen but win games.”
The Sharks are 3-2 all-time in Game 7s in their history. Calgary has won five of 11 seventh games, and only once "the first round of the 2004 playoffs against Vancouver" since 1989. This will be Mike Keenan's 10th time coaching in a seventh game (he has a 5-4 record). Three went to overtime.
So Keenan is well-versed in the history of seventh games and thinks they are important because, "If you can get beyond the first round, exponentially, you can grow as a team. That would be an important factor."The Sharks are expected to have two players on the ice that weren’t in Game 6: defenseman Kyle McLaren and forward Jeremy Roenick.
McLaren has a groin injury and is day-to-day, but you know he’s playing tonight. Roenick, meanwhile, was benched mainly because he had been held off the score sheet in five games and was a minus-2.
"We're at a point now where he needed a rest," coach Ron Wilson said. "We've been playing at a frenetic pace and I need J.R. fresh. . . . He'll be in there - I talked to him about it, 'Whether it's Game 1 of the next series or Game 7 of this series, I want you fresh so you can contribute.' "
Wilson acknowledged he was frustrated and concerned with the play of Milan Michalek; the Sharks' second-leading goal scorer during the regular season does not have a point in this series.
The Sharks may be wearing down. In Game 5, they relied on great goaltending by Evgeni Nabokov to steal the game, being outshot (36-26) for the first time in the series. In Game 6, they were outshot 25-21 and beaten repeatedly in the face-off circle.
Betting trends: Under is 18-8-3 in Flames’ last 29 overall. ... Sharks are are 7-1 in their last 8 home games. ... Sharks are 21-7 in their last 28 overall. ... Over is 6-2-4 in the last 12 meetings.
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