Flames Fall to Avalanche on Deadline Day
Colorado 3 Calgary 2 (OT)
Jason Parkin
February 26, 2008
The trade deadline has come and gone for the Calgary Flames, and just as Darryl Sutter said they would, they stood pat. The Avalanche on the other hand loaded up for a playoff run. Signing Peter Forsberg last night, and making 2 separate trades today for Ruslan Salei and Adam Foote, they appear ready to make a push for a coveted post season spot. The Flames lone move came last week when they acquired Jim Vandermeer from the Flyers, and they believe their current group of players can get the job done.
On The Line
Calgary is high off a 4 game win streak that saw them beat all 3 division leaders in the Western Conference. They are riding Vezina like goaltending from Miikka Kiprusoff, and are getting the secondary scoring they've been waiting for. At the start of the night they had a 1 point lead over Minnesota for 1st in the division, and a 6 point lead on their foe for the evening. Both the Flames and the Avalanche have 19 games left, and this game is huge in keeping the Av's at bay before their hired help arrives and bolsters their lineup immediately.
The Flow
Calgary was handed some early powerplays but a lack of organization and some bouncy passes caused them to miss a couple early chances. The Avalanche struck first at 4:08 as Ryan Smyth, still harvesting some Oiler luck, backhanded a pass off Cory Sarich's stick, off Kiprusoff's glove, and found a way to float into the net on what was a very harmless looking play that happens several times a game without any scoring result. It looked as though Colorado would gain a huge momentum boost about halfway through the period when Adam Foote dramatically arrived on their bench after his private flight whisked him away from Columbus to this ever important NW division battle. The Flames were luckily able to strike before Colorado turned Foote's arrival into something, as Dustin Boyd converted an Owen Nolan cross crease pass just as a Flames Powerplay expired to tie the game at 1 goal apiece. The Flames ended the 1st period with a flurry and started the 2nd the same way. They killed off a couple penalties and then went hard the rest of the 2nd. Lombardi and Huselius hit back-to-back posts before Robyn Regehr scored a short-handed goal that the Adam Foote and Kurt Sauer played soccer with before the puck found the net behind Theodore. The Flames carried a 2-1 lead into the 2nd intermission, and played a near perfect 3rd period until David Hale stormed to the penalty box after a tripping call with about 6 minutes left. The Avalanche quickly converted with a Milan Hejduk screen shot and tied the game at 2. The game went to overtime where Jarome Iginla took a tripping penalty, and John Michael Liles did his best anti gravity impression to draw the call. The Avalanche wasted no time and Paul Stastny scored the OT winner with the 4-on-3 advantage to take the much needed win.
Three Stars
1 - Paul Stastny:
Scored the OT winner and added an assist. The Avalanche are a much different team with Stastny, Sakic, and Smyth healthy. 2 - Matthew Lombardi:
1 assist but generated at least 4 or 5 quality scoring chances. 3 - J.M. Liles:
2 assists and drew the penalty that led to the winner
Big Save
Jose Theodore took a sure goal away from Jarome Iginla when Dion Phaneuf passed him the puck in close, and Iginla waited a little too long, just long enough for Theodore to get across and get his glove on the airborne rubber.
Big Hit
Eric Godard used his teammate as a screen, and completely obliterated a surprised J.M. Liles behind the Colorado goal as he skated for the puck. For a big guy, its not often you see Godard use that advantage unless it's with his fists. Nice to see him use his size for something else, a pretty impressive hit. Dion Phaneuf also shattered the soul of Ben Guite with a vicious hit from behind into the boards.
The Goat
The Flames penalty kill. Maybe the last call was iffy, but you can't allow two Powerplay goals to the 30th ranked (although now bolstered) powerplay team back-to-back like that.
Mr. Clutch
Joe Sakic. From the start of the 3rd period, he completely took over the game and although he registered no points, was a key component on the game winner.
Odds and Ends
Not every time you see a team dress 17 players. But the Avalanche did just that tonight. That was until Adam Foote arrived on the scene fresh off a trade that brought him back into the Colorado organization where he spent 13 seasons if you count his time with the Nordiques. I thought I was watching the WWE as they were showing Adam Foote arrive backstage, then dramatically walk to the bench as the game was going on. Kristian Huselius played his strongest game in a while, and was rewarded (?) with some PK time and nearly scored a shorthanded goal when he hit the post on a beautiful deek. Robyn Regehr decided to pick on a different Czech tonight. Instead of Ales Hemsky, his victim was Milan Hejduk. By the end of the 2nd period, all Regehr had to do was stare at him and he would hit the ice. Kudos to Matthew Lombardi for playing one of his most inspired games of the season...not too sure what brought that on, but I hope we continue to see it. Calgary was outshot 34-29, and went 0-4 on the PP. Colorado was 2 for 5 with the man advantage. Dion Phaneuf led the team with 26:57 in icetime. Craig Conroy briefly left the game after being hit by an Iginla shot, but returned 2 shifts later. Alex Tanguay missed the game after suffering a shoulder/neck injury against Detroit.
Next up
The Flames travel to Anaheim to play the defending Stanley Cup champs on Friday night. 8:00 MST and you can watch the game on Sportsnet West or listen in on the Fan 960.
