Flames 3 – Canucks 1
Rewind to October and the start of the new NHL season, and you remember Calgary being outright embarrassed on opening night, and having a win ripped from their clutches in the home opener to the Canucks. Well the combination of Thursday night’s late win and Saturday night’s dominating performance and you’ve got a big ol’ plate of revenge that’s just been served up. Granted neither game featured the Canucks captain Roberto Luongo, but given how the Canucks had been playing in front of anything resembling a goaltender, the Flames could take pride in these two wins.
On The Line
With the win on Thursday night, the Flames put themselves in a very good position to claw back into contention for the division lead. Take Saturday’s game and the Flames are one point back of the Canucks and keeping pace with the Minnesota Wild. Tonight’s contest was a huge game for the Flames.
The Flow
The first period started out with the home town boys taking it to the Canucks, getting a couple of excellent scoring opportunities but not much to show for it. The Canucks got back into the game with a couple of power plays, but with a couple of power plays of their own the Flames put the pressure right back on Vancouver. But as the first twenty minutes came to a close, the teams were still scorless.
In the second it was all Calgary. The Canucks managed just 3 shots on net in the whole period and the Flames were clearly the better team. But it wasn’t until the final minute of the second before the Flames would get on the board as Daymond Langkow tipped a Dion Phaneuf blast from the point on the power play past Cory Schnieder who was making his first career NHL start.
As the third period wore on the Flames once again continued to apply pressure to the Canucks with David Moss snapping a shot past Schnieder 6 minutes in with Curtis Glencross picking up yet another point to continue his tepid scoring pace of late. Kyle Wellwod would respond for the Canucks a short time later to draw the visitors within one, but Matthew Lombardi would salt away the game taking a feed from Jarome Iginla and firing the puck into the open side of the cage with less than two minutes remaining.
Three Stars
1. Robyn Regehr: He made the Sedin’s disappear. Considering how the two of them play against the Flames on a normal night, that’s no small feat. A++++ would recommend to friends..
2. Daymond Langkow: Langkow is always at the right place at the right time it seems. His play in front of the net got the Flames on the board and they never looked back.
3. Miikka Kiprusoff: Kipper was as advertised tonight, but most of that had to do with the team in front of him. So often he’s been left out to dry, but tonight he was able to make solid saves and looks to be getting some more confidence. Not a busy night, but a great performance.
Big Save
I’ll be honest with you, the beer consumed at the ‘Dome last night has clouded my memory and a big save doesn’t really stand out to me. Schnieder didn’t face a lot of tough shots, and Kiprusoff barely faced any at all, so perhaps it’s a moot point.
Big Hit
One has to go with Robyn Regehr laying down the law at the end of the game, but a close second to Jiggy_12 slapping a beer out of my hand when the Flames scored the first goal of the game, then promptly replacing said beer with a fresh one as if nothing had happened.
The Goat
The Canucks top line. Robyn Regehr is a beast of a defenceman, but if the Canucks were going to win tonight, they needed their top line to be visible, and clearly they were not tonight.
Mr. Clutch
Have I happened to mention Mr. Robyn Regehr at all? It’s not very often that the first star of the game is a shut down defenceman, but when you have a guy of Regehr’s calibre who plays the type of game he played on Saturday night, it’s a thing of beauty.
Odds and Ends
It’s so interesting to see the difference in play with Miikka Kiprusoff when the team is playing well in front of him compared to when they are horrible. Far too often this season the Flames have made big blunders in their own zone, given up prime scoring opportunities and left Kiprusoff to try and clean up the mess, often completely unable to do so. So when there is a solid effort put forth, the scoring chances against are minimized, it makes Kiprusoff look very good. But what is probably more soothing for Flames fans is that Calgary is finally starting to look less and less shell shocked every time they play the Canucks. It used to be that when the Flames and Canucks took to the ice together, Calgary just had zero confidence in their ability to compete with Vancouver. But with these past two wins, even if they aren’t against Roberto Luongo, the Flames can build upon the success. And perhaps next time, when Luongo is in net, we won’t look like scared turtles.
Next Up
The Flames welcome the struggling Dallas Stars to the Dome on Tuesday night. Puck drops at 7:30 and you can watch on Sportsnet West.
Lines (To Start):
Cammalleri – Lombardi – Iginla
Moss – Langkow – Bertuzzi
Glencross – Conroy – Bork!
Prust – Primeau – Nystrom
Phaneuf – Giordano
Regehr – Aucoin
Sarich – Pardy
Liprusoff
