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SAN JOSE — A man of few words, Miikka Kiprusoff (aka The Sphinx) is one of only eight Calgary Flames players remaining from the team that upset the San Jose Sharks in the third round of the 2004 playoffs. It is a storyline that Kiprusoff doesn't have much time for — even though, he was understudy to Sharks' starter Evgeni Nabokov up until November of that season, and then had the great satisfaction of besting him en route to the Flames' unexpected run to the Stanley Cup final that year.
If the Flames hope to duplicate that near miracle, it will need to start here tonight, when they open their best-of-seven Western Conference quarter-final against the heavily favored Sharks.
Kiprusoff remains the Flames' best hope of registering an upset. On paper, he just completed the worst of his four seasons with Calgary, a year which began with a forgettable October (6-3-3, 2.97 GAA, .891 save percentage); a worse November (4-8-0, 2.95, .879) and gradual improvement ever since. By February, when the Flames' offence went south and coincided with nasty slumps by, among others, Kristian Huselius, Matthew Lombardi and Owen Nolan, Kiprusoff's save percentage (.915) and goals-against average (2.06) were in his more traditional stingy zone.
Kiprusoff was the only reason the Flames had even a ghost of a chance in last year's first-round meeting with Detroit, won in lopsided fashion by the Red Wings. After turning over about a third of their line-up since then — and replacing last year's coach, Jim Playfair, with playoff-tested Mike Keenan - the Flames need to make a better show of it against the Sharks.
San Jose Sharks' Joe Thornton celebrates his goal with teammate Tom Cavanagh during the first period of their NHL hockey game against the Los Angeles Kings on April 3 in Los Angeles. (Gus Ruelas/AP)
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Kiprusoff doesn't volunteer much in the way of quotable material. On the chance to play against his ex-team, he said: "Both teams are so different now. It's a new series. I think it's going to be a tough one — two pretty good teams.
On playing against Nabokov, with whom he apprenticed in the Sharks' organization under goaltending guru Warren Strelow: "It doesn't make any difference to me who is in the other end. I just try to do my thing."
On his habit of playing better as the season progresses and then carrying that standard over into the playoffs: "I don't want to look back too much, I just want to look forward. I'm going to throw everything I've got into the first game and go from there."
Flames' captain Jarome Iginla, one of the holdovers from the last playoff victory over the Sharks, was more than willing to sing Kiprusoff's praises.
"He's been playing amazing again down the stretch," said Iginla. "The bigger the games are, you can see, he just gets in a zone. He loves it. So, you can pick any goalie. He's the one we would take in that match-up."
The Flames go into the opener, comparatively healthy. Craig Conroy missed the final week with a torso injury, but practiced the last two days and looks ready to go, same as Stephane Yelle, who was held out of the weekend finale against the Vancouver Canucks.
Provided Conroy is back in, he will centre the second line with Owen Nolan and Kristian Huselius. Yelle would then shift to right wing on the third line with Matthew Lombardi and Wayne Primeau, a unit that was effective for the Flames in the final three weeks of the season.
Coach Mike Keenan has a number of options for his fourth line, including rookie Eric Nystrom, second-year forward David Moss, Marcus Nilson and tough guy Eric Godard. Mark Smith, a former Shark, is currently out with a neck and shoulder problem, while defenceman Rhett Warrener is recovering from a broken ankle. Rookie Dustin Boyd will also sit.
Huselius has been struggling down the stretch; don't be surprised if he's on a short leash in this playoff series, if things don't go well early for him, or the team.
On the Sharks' side, Jonathan Cheechoo returned to the line-up for Sunday's fight-filled game against the Dallas Stars after missing more than a week with a head injury. Cheechoo normally plays on the top line with centre Joe Thornton and Milan Michalek; after an awful first half, the former Rocket Richard trophy winner started scoring on a more regular basis in the second half.
The only regular expected to be unavailable tonight is defenceman Christian Ehrhoff, who missed the last two games of the season with a lower body injury. Alexei Semenov is expected to play in his place.
Officially, Calgary held a 3-1 edge over the Sharks in the season series, but the two victories in San Jose both came in overtime. From a San Jose perspective, that makes its record against Calgary a more attractive 1-1-2. The teams did not play again after the Sharks acquired defenceman Brian Campbell from the Buffalo Sabres at the trading deadline. Almost immediately, Campbell improved a power play that was struggling near the bottom of the NHL rankings.
In a conference call with reporters last week, Sharks' coach Ron Wilson said he was confident that Campbell would "fit right in on in our team. He's got a friendship that he's had in the past with Joe Thornton, and he just seems comfortable with our group and there have not been any issues.
Wilson continued: "I think it's a little easier to fit a defenceman of that caliber into your lineup, and you don't have to worry about who you're pairing him with. He's been pretty capable of playing with any one of our six or seven defencemen that we've been using recently. He seems right now a best fit with Douglas Murray."
If the Sharks had a weakness last year, it was on the blue line. Even after acquiring Craig Rivet at the trading deadline, they were so young and raw (Ehrhoff, Marc-Eduard Vlasic and Matt Carle and Murray, a seventh defenceman in the playoffs, all had fewer than three years of NHL experience).
"Vlasic was always good last year, but Ehrhoff and Douglas Murray have really improved," said Wilson. "It's a little bit harder to forecheck us because of some of the speed we have on the back end now; that makes me feel a little bit better going into the playoffs."
In each of the past two years, the Sharks were eliminated in the second round, after blowing 2-1 series leads. Considering how well they played in the final third of the season - finishing with the second best overall record in the league and nearly running down the Detroit Red Wings for the overall title - an early exit this season would spell disaster for the franchise. Accordingly, they enter the playoffs with a heavy burden of expectation on them.
Keenan didn't think that would be much of a factor, however. He believes there is pressure to succeed on all eight playoff teams in the West.
"I believe in our conference, there are going to be four disappointed groups (after the first round)," said Keenan, "and the reason is they all feel they can win and they all are very competitive."
Game 2 is set for tomorrow night, also in San Jose, the only one of the eight series in which back-to-back games were scheduled right off the start.
