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The last time the Calgary Flames beat the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center was April 25th 2006, during game 3 of the Western Conference Quarter Finals (the previous Honda Center win and regular season win came January 19th 2004). Since that win, the Flames have had 21 chances to tally a victory, and have failed every time.
Calgary has a demon to exorcise at the Pond.
Some of the last 21 games have been close, with 6 of them ending in either an overtime or shootout win for Anaheim. Another 5 on top of those previous 6 were not OT/SO games, but were decided by 1 goal. Over half the time, Calgary has kept it interesting. I'm too lazy to check, but some of the Anaheim wins with a 2 goal lead were surely padded with empty net goals, meaning they too were close games.
Yet Calgary hasn't been able to pull out a win.
I don't have an explanation for this. There are times since 2006 that Anaheim has been an awful team, and Calgary has been a decent one (unlike today when Anaheim is clearly dominant and a terrible Calgary team only made it to the 2nd round of the playoffs because of some poor child's Make A Wish Foundation request), but something hasn't worked in their favor.
I don't even have any theories. Players have come and gone from both teams. Any intangible mental mindsets that might be throwing Calgary off their game in this building shouldn't be carrying on from one incarnation of the team to the next.
And maybe this isn't as impressive as I think it is, because there's probably some other team in a different league with a losing streak in a building that stretches for two whole decades or whatever, but I'm not that interested. All I know is that there's something weird happening here.
This can either bring you great comfort as a Ducks fan, or it can make you feel as troubled as I do. Calgary might be a little overdue in Anaheim.
Playoff Gameday
Flames @ Ducks
Ducks lead series 3-1
Sunday, May 10, 2015, 7:00 PM PDT
Honda Center
Prediction
Nothing lasts forever. Even losing streaks.
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