Calgary Flames push Canucks to elimination brink in 3-1 win

The Calgary Flames are one win away from making past the first round of the playoffs for the first time since 2003-04.

The team that was supposed to be the easiest Western Conference opponent has proved difficult for the reeling Vancouver Canucks, as in down 3-1 in a series tough.

Calgary got a goal from forward Sam Bennett and the below score by forward Johnny Gaudreau to take a 3-1 win Tuesday night in Game 4.

From the Calgary Herald:

This, for a team that has advanced to the second round only once in the past quarter-century. Do the players sense the significance of that?

“I don’t know, I don’t think that far ahead,” said goalie Jonas Hiller. “We’ve still got to win one game and, normally, the fourth one is the toughest one to win. We definitely want to do this as quick as possible. We’ll worry about winning the next one, then look ahead after that.”

The Canucks are in a tough spot. Before the game they lost Alex Burrows to a reported broken rib. During the game goaltender Eddie Lack was pulled in favor of Ryan Miller meaning … a goaltender controversy for Vancouver! Miller was the starter for most of the year until he suffered a knee injury in February. Lack got the Canucks into the playoffs while Miller healed. Lack stopped just four of seven Flames shots on goal, while Miller was a perfect 15-for-15. Lack has not been great these playoffs with a 3.03 goals against average and .886 save percentage.

The Canucks are clearly the team with more issues than Calgary right now, which doesn’t bode well for Vancouver if it wants to come back against the Flames.

Miller said he felt bad for Lack per the Vancouver Sun:

“I’m disappointed I had to go in in that situation,” Miller said. “I felt Eddie has been playing really well. For me, I was just trying to settle back into the intensity and the game. (Quickness) is something I’ve been working on every day to make sure I’m improving on the off-chance they needed me as an option. I didn’t want to go in in this kind of situation. You feel for Eddie. I just tried to do the best I could there.”

Have the Canucks ever erased a 3-1 playoff deficit to the Flames in their playoff history with Calgary?

Ah yes, there was that time in 1994.

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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper

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