Flames Win Huge on Iginla's
Record Breaking Night
Flames 7 - Blues 3
Daniel Lemmon
March 10, 2008
With the burden of the opportunity to score the goal that would set him
atop the Flames list for most career goals scored with the Flames
franchise, fans around the building could feel the pressure and tension
that Iginla's stick was suffering from. So with a series of poor
efforts to start out the home stand the Iginla led Flames were looking
for something to spark them back into the win column and vault them
back into top spot in the North West division. Tonight, the Flames
showed the fans what they can be capable of.
On The Line
One always wishes to be original, but the same line can be used over
and over and over again this late in the season with the race between
top spot in the North West and being out of the playoffs being so very
fine. So winning these games are so very important and it can't be
forgotten by anyone following, let alone those playing for the Calgary
Flames.
The Flow
Calgary got out of the gate with a bang as Eric Brewer completed his
attempt at being an epic failure as he let Alex Tanguay blow past him
to score a beautiful goal just twenty-one seconds into the game. The
Flames would then add to their lead just as their first powerplay came
to a close. But as the first continued, the Blues got a powerplay of
their own and scored to bring them within one, and from that point
until late in the third the Blues held the majority of play before the
Flames would record some franchise history on a spectacular one-timer,
the definition of a Jarome Iginla goal, the 365th goal of his career,
the perfect way to crown Iginla the King of Flames.
As the second period started the Flames came out sluggish, and the
Blues capitalized scoring once more to bring themselves back within
one. But then Matthew Lombardi would rub some cheeta blood on his
skates and fly around the Blues defence short handed to put the Flames
back up by two. For the remainder of the period the Flames and Blues
would trade chances as the Flames would manage to creep back into the
game.
Entering the third there might still have been some questions about the
Flames play, but after a perfectly strange tip by Old Man Nolan that
managed to hit one post, perfectly travel along the goal line, hit the
other post and bounce out of the goal the Flames really started to take
control of the game again. A nifty back hand pass from Eric Godard to
Marcus Nilson and all of a sudden all four Flames lines have
contributed to the scoresheet. Daymond Langkow would score a sloppy
slapshot goal and Brad Boyes would score his second of the night on a
shot that Miikka Kiprusoff clearly dropped the ball on, and would cap
the night off with an empty net goal with an incredulous five minutes
remaining in the third.
Three Stars
1 - Matthew Lombardi - Lombardi was simply flying tonight, he
had one goal, two breakaways, one completely botched three on one
(learn how to pass) and a spectacular game on the penalty
kill. Some signs of the Lombardi of old.
2 - Jarome Iginla - Simply put he deserves to be
here for the circumstances surrounding his goal tonight, and boy was
everyone, especially Iginla, happy that he finally scored it. The man
received a standing ovation and a chorus of Iggy! Iggy! Iggy!.
3 - Alex Tanguay - Tanguay got the game off on the
right foot with his quick goal and capped it off with his late empty
net goal. But what was better was his hands around the net as he nearly
set up a few more goals throughout the game.
Big Save
Seemingly down and out after an odd play behind the net, Miikka
Kiprusoff sprawled out, kicked his legs up in the air and knocked a
puck out of mid air to keep the game close midway through the second
period.
Big Hit
Miikka Kiprusoff was mad and he wasn't going to take it any more. After
getting his mask knocked off for the second time in the game Kiprusoff
showed a little bit of character that Flames fans rarely see, he
flipped the puck straight into the face of the Blues player who knocked
into him. Hilarious! Honourable mention to Dustin Boyd's hit on Erik
Johnson, which was techincally more of a hit.
The Goat
Disagree with me if you will but I think Andy Murray should smack
himself. Your team is out of the playoff race, you're down by three
goals, there are five minutes left in the game and you have only thirty
seconds left in your power play. Pulling the goaltender is simply a
rediculous decision, but thanks for the goal.
Mr. Clutch
Tonight, Mr. Lombardi, you have earned some heaping praise, and I shall
continue to dump more of it on you for tonight's game. You're speed,
your skating, your penatly killing it was something to behold. You're
passing leaves a LOT to be desired, but that was an incredible game.
Odds and Ends
The Flames leaped back into top spot in the North West division with
the win, with a game in hand on the idle Minnesota Wild, to put
themselves one point clear of the Wild and two up on the Avalanche.
Finally the newest monkey on Iginla's back has been shot in the back,
and hopefully Iginla can continue to help the Flames down the stretch
as they work to try and gain home ice advantage for the playoffs. It's
intersting to think about how the Flames might perform in the playoffs.
For most of the year, the Flames have actually seemed to play better on
the road than they have at home. But remember, that winning on the road
is a key part of winning in the playoffs, so win say two games at home
and you can use the better road play to help take you over the top. I
guess it's all about perspective. It was also a huge sigh of relief
from Kristian Huselius who finally managed to score after a horrific 20
game scoring slump. It was almost stolen by what looked like a tip in
front by the ever deft flick of a Daymond Langkow stick.
Next up
The Flames head out on a four game road trip on Wednesday night. Game
time is 5PM MDT and can been seen on Flames PPV and heard on the Fan
960.
