Calgary Flames left wing Johnny Gaudreau (13) celebrates his goal against the Vancouver Canucks during the first period in game four of the first round of the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Scotiabank Saddledome.Sergei Belski
The day began with an ominous unsettling moment - Vancouver right winger Alex Burrows carried off to hospital in an ambulance after leaving the ice in discomfort during the morning skate – and it didn't get much better for the Canucks as the night wore on.
The Calgary Flames scored three goals on seven first-period shots and chased starting goaltender Eddie Lack after 20 minutes. Ryan Miller came on in relief, making his 2015 playoff debut, but ultimately the Canucks couldn't overcome that early deficit and fell 3-1 Tuesday night.
After the first period, which was wide open and featured oodles of back-and-forth hockey, the Flames played an almost perfect road game the rest of the way before a raucous home crowd at the Scotiabank Saddledome.
They consistently kept the Sedin twins to the outside and except for a final flurry, with Miller on the bench for a sixth attacker, Calgary kept the quality scoring chances down.
"I think we've just got to come back and play exactly how we did tonight," assessed defenceman Dennis Wideman, who set up both the power-play goals for Calgary. "We played a good solid game. Our power play got the goals and our PK was great and then when we got the lead, I thought we did a good job of limiting their chances."
Burrows' absence forced the Canucks into a series of 11th-hour line-up shuffles, with Linden Vey and Brendon McMillan drawing in for the first time this post-season, while Brad Richardson was scratched because of an undisclosed injury Meantime, Jannik Hansen returned to the top line, alongside Henrik and Daniel Sedin, replacing Burrows, who was reportedly sidelined with a broken rib, according to a TVA report. Burrows was discharged from hospital in the early evening, but he was going to overnight in Calgary as a precaution, Canucks' coach Willie Desjardins confirmed following the game.
Desjardins wouldn't tip his hand about who might get the start in Game 5 Thursday night, but said he'd pretty much made his mind already. Without actually tipping his hand, Desjardins praised Miller for giving the team a lift in his relief appearance. Miller stopped all 15 shots he faced, and was bailed out by his goal post in the second, when Mason Raymond rang a shot off the bar.
With the win, Calgary is up 3-1 lead in the series and has a chance to advance to the second playoff round for only the second time since their one-and-only Stanley Cup championship in 1989.
Understandably, Flames coach Bob Hartley was preaching his "one game at a time" mantra, with his team so tantalizingly close to advancing.
"I know it's not a great sound bite for you guys, but we played all year one game at a time," said Hartley. "We always say, the fourth one is the hardest to win, and that's not going to be any different."
Canucks' defenceman Kevin Bieksa made the same essential point in the Vancouver dressing room, noting: "We've played good hockey a lot of times in the series, but that means nothing. We're scoring one, maybe two goals a game right now, and that's not going to win you many games in the playoffs."
When asked if the Canucks believe they have what it takes to get back in the series, Bieksa answered: "Of course we do. We go back home. We're a confident group. We've faced elimination before. The last one is the toughest one to win, so we go back home and try to put everything we can into that one; try to get that game and put the pressure back on them."
Miller was playing for the first time in 10 days, or since he returned to the line-up for the regular-season finale against the Edmonton Oilers, a rusty outing for him, despite the Canucks' 6-5 victory.
Afterward, Miller expressed some sympathy for his goaltending partner Lack: "It was disappointing I had to go back in, in that situation, because Eddie's been playing really well. They got a backdoor goal and two deflections.
"I didn't want to go in this situation. You feel for Eddie. I just tried to do the best I could there."
As for Hiller, after facing just three shots in a tightly played second, he stopped all 15 in the third.
"By that time, you kinda feel the game and tonight, I felt really good," said Hiller. "We kinda knew it was coming, so you try and stay focused and find the puck and it worked out really well."
Special teams suddenly took over a series in which they'd been a negligible factor up that that point. Three first-period penalties resulted in three consecutive first-period power-play goals, Johnny Gaudreau and Jiri Hudler scoring for Calgary, Henrik Sedin for the Canucks, as the big boys on both teams came to life on the score sheet.
Calgary's top line had been silent through most of the first three games, but came alive with the man advantage in the first, Hudler starting the play that led to Gaudreau's first-ever NHL playoff goal.
Earlier in the day, Hudler received his first-ever major trophy nomination. He's up for the Lady Byng, awarded annually to the player adjudged to have exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct, combined with a high standard of playing ability.
For the second game in a row, defenceman T.J. Brodie made a pivotal play, his shot from the right face-off circle with 42 seconds to go in the first period that was tipped in by Sam Bennett gave the Flames their two-goal cushion.
Burrows had been an important agitating presence in a series where the line between what's allowed and what isn't had been crossed frequently in previous games. Burrows had actually picked a fight with Flames' defenceman Kris Russell in the final minutes of Thursday's loss to Calgary, leading to speculation that there's where the injury may have occurred.
The NHL warned both teams to calm things down, and threatened consequences if things spilled out of control again. It was still an intense, hard-hitting affair, but the teams did a better job of straddling the line. Still, the by-play between the Flames' Michael Ferland and the Canucks' Kevin Bieksa was practically worth the price of admission, Ferland seemingly always homing in on Bieksa in his forechecking forays, Bieksa trying to elude the pressure and the physical play.
Hudler's linemate, Gaudreau, is expected to be a finalist for the Calder Trophy, given to the NHL's rookie of the year, and coach Bob Hartley is considered a strong contender for the Jack Adams, as the NHL's coach of the year.