Flames Rise Against the
Wild on Easter Weekend
Flames 5 - Wild 4
Daniel Lemmon
March 22, 2008
Throughout the season the Flames have displayed an ability to ably
handle the Minnesota Wild, and with the Flames and Wild seemingly the
major combatants in the battle for the North West division, the chances
of tonight's game being one of potential foreshadow for the first round
of the playoffs. The Flames have set their sights on winning the North
West and beating the current leader is something the Flames needed to
do in order to continue their hot pursuit. But the question that
resides in the minds of all Flames fans is always, which team will show
up?
On The Line
As previously stated almost everything is on the line these days. With
the red hot Oilers *spit* chasing down the last playoff spot and the
Flames just a hair above that same spot, but a win with a game in hand
would put the Flames just one point back of the division lead. Game two
of the battle royale and you can't help but think that they're all must
wins.
The Flow
The first was almost uneventful if not for the expected battles between
Derek Boogaard, Eric Godard, Chris Simon and *heart* Jim Vandermeer,
but the Flames showed up to play right away. There were moments when
they completely controlled the play in the Wild zone, yet as the period
came to a close the teams were still knotted up at nothing.
The second period started off with a bang. A weak penalty call on Wayne
Primeau and the Flames are short handed to start the period, but no
matter for the one they call Dion Phaneuf who consumed a touch of Bobby
Orr's soul in an end to end rush that saw him one hand a puck over the
blocker of Josh Harding after blowing past FOUR Wild players AND
getting tripped right as he chipped the puck into the net. Amazing! The
Wild would tie it up on an odd bank shot on a two on one that probably
would have ended up in the net if the puck had made it across. The
Flames and Wild would trade goals again before the end of the second
with Jarome Iginla netting his 46th goal of the year in the final
minute of the second, always a killer.
Jarome Iginla continued his dominance in the third netting a natural
hat-trick interrupted by a major fight between Cory Sarich and Todd
Fedoruk. The Wild and Flames would once again trade goals with the
third line contributing to the Jarome Iginla and Dion Phaneuf show. The
Wild would continue to put the pressure on and would manage to get
within one inside of the last minute of the game, but the Flames would
shut the door to further goals.
Three Stars
1 - Jarome Iginla - What else can you say about the captain.
He led the charge at the end of the second period with a big faceoff
win and a bee-line to the net, and in each of his three goals he was
always ready and waiting for the puck.
2 - Dion Phaneuf - The young defenceman has had an up and down
season so far this year, odd that I might say that, but he's either
been very good, or kinda bad, tonight was one of his very good games.
Amazing goal to start the scoring, some great hits, and a three point
night for the young man on the blue line.
3 - Benoit Pouliot - The Flames seem to like to give people big
goals, Pouliot scored his first and second career goals against the
Flames tonight, though maybe he'll flip around which one was which as
the second one was a very nice goal compared to the first.
Big Save
Midway through the second period the Flames were caught flat footed on
the power play and a two on one with the ever deadly Brian Rolston
leading the charge. Everyone knew that the shot was going to come from
Bouchard, but it didn't make the sliding save any less impressive.
Incredible save at a key time in the game even though the Wild would
score later on.
Big Hit
Big = good. Big HIT = GREAT! And there are none of the Flames SMASH!es
that are better than the best laid of the Regehr SMASH!es. With Pavol
Demitra coming down the wing on Regehr side there was nothing but
impending doom in the forecast and Regehr didn't disappoint. Thankfully
the pass that Demitra managed to get off before he got squashed like a
little bug ended up in a rather routine save for Miikka Kiprusoff
The Goat
In a game where nine goals were scored you'd think there would be a
goat around somewhere, but I thought that both teams played a pretty
good game. The Wild were victimized by Jarome Iginla on fire, and the
Wild would score on broken plays where you can't really point out any
one player who majorly screwed up.
Mr. Clutch
Jarome Iginla. No one even comes close. His leadership, his scoring, his forecheck, his faceoffs.. the man is legendary.
Odds and Ends
It's almost hard to believe that in a game where the Flames scored five
goals and allowed four that Kristian Huselius managed to get only 6:23
of ice time on the night. At this point you can pretty much guarantee
that Hueslius won't be back with the Flames next season. Not only has
he drawn the ire of the coach, but to look at him on the bench, he
doesn't want to be here either. I imagine that in the end the parting
of ways will be mutually shared between the team and the player.
It is also quite interesting to see the top line featuring the likes of
Marcus Nilson, who brought a good forecheck and some grit to the top
line even though the most prolific of scoring from that line featured
the injured Alex Tanguay. Speaking of Tanguay, maybe the pain in his
foot is affecting his disposition, but he hardly seemed excited at all
at setting up Jarome Iginla, or being on the ice for two of his three
goals. Let the media go to work on that one.
Not the most complete game by the Flames but the result is still exactly what the team needed.
Next up
The Flames continue the round table of the North West on Monday night
in Denver as they take on the Colorado Avalanche. Game time is 7:30PM
and we can catch the action on the Fan 960 and yet another pay per view
game.
