The Flames headed into the final game of the season series with the
Ducks having suffered a rather heart breaking and referee robbing game
at home against the Avalanche to lose control of the division lead in
the North West. With the Wild winning earlier tonight, if the Flames
wanted to achieve their end of February goal of leading the division
they would need to win just to keep pace. But achieving that goal means
that the Flames need to stand up to one of the top teams in the West in
the Anaheim Ducks.
On The Line
The West is so tight and the North West division especially so and
falling back in even one game can prove to be disastrous. So it's
either win and keep near the top of the division or fall desperately
close to falling out of a playoff position.
The Flow
The Flames would get down early as Mathieu Schneider would start the
Ducks on the path to victory just 35 seconds into the game. Scott
Neidermayer would add another to put the home side up by two before the
end of the first period. A curious event would occur near the end of
the first period as Mike Keenan appeared to be creating some delay
after a Flames icing call when he sent backup Curtis Joseph out onto
the ice only to have CuJo sent back to the Flames bench. At first it
looked like a delay tactic, but after finishing out the first period,
at the start of the second it was indeed Joseph who would be found in
between the pipes, and for the remainder of the game.
The Flames seemed to take inspiration during their time in the dressing
room between periods as they came out flying in the second. After
generating a few powerplays because of their hard work and controlling
play in the Ducks zone, Dion Phaneuf would put the Flames within one.
Enter the third period and the Flames continued to put a great deal of
pressure on the Ducks, who were saved by the iron on a few occasions
and it wasn't until a late period full two minute 5 on 3 powerplay that
the Ducks truly put things away.
Three Stars
1 - Mathieu Schneider - It was a show of defensemen tonight and Schneider got the Ducks on the board, and helped set up the game winning goal.
2 - Dion Phaneuf - Dion has responded incredibly since he signed
his big contract and is starting to play, game in and game out, like
he's looking to prove he can earn that contract. With yet another goal
Phaneuf is solidly forming his place among the NHL elite.
3 - Jarome Iginla - Iginla set up the Flames only goal when he
spotted Phaneuf flying in from the blueline and was helping to provide
a lot of jump to his teammates all night.
Big Save
On a powerplay midway through the first period Miikka Kiprusoff spun
around and gloved a puck drifting to the back of the net, absolutely
robbing the Ducks of a sure powerplay goal, though later in the period
the Ducks would score on another powerplay.
Big Hit
Late in the third period the at the Ducks blueline, the Flames Adrian
Aucoin got a lovely hip check on Ducks forward Brian Sutherby as both
players ended up with lost helmets. Mostly for show at that point, but
boy did it look cool!
The Goat
When you really look at the game the Flames played the only thing they
really did wrong was based on their play in the first period. One could
even go so far as to say the first minute of the first period. Sadly
the Flames just didn't come out with quite enough right from the very
beginning and it cost them.
Mr. Clutch
I'd like to commend the job that Curtis Joseph did coming into the game
in the second period after Miikka Kiprusoff would pull out of the game
with the flu. Joseph came in ready to play and he gave his team a real
chance to win. The only goal that was scored against him he played as
well as anyone could expect him to.
Odds and Ends
The flu bug hit the Flames and hit them hard tonight as Marcus Nilson,
Miikka Kiprusoff and the HALE Storm would all pull out of the game
either before the start of the game or during (in the case of
Kiprusoff), while some of the players, including Wayne Primeau would
manage to play while still not feeling well. That gave Eric "Nytro"
Nystrom a chance to play on the second line with Old Man Nolan and
Craig Conroy, I'm sure much to the chagrin of certain calgarypuck
posters. But even though he shouldn't have any business playing on the
second line, Nystrom played what I think was a great game. He was
crashing the net, providing a tenacious attitude on the ice, hit
everything in sight and managed to generate a few scoring opportunities
for his teammates. All in all, I'd have to say it was a productive
night for the AHL callup.
Next up
The Flames get right back on the horse tomorrow night as they take on
the Phoenix Coyotes starting at 8PM Mountain time. Catch all the action
on the Fan 960 and CBC (in HD!)
