Calgary 3 Los Angeles 2
The old adage is that the winning streak ends before the first loss…
And it may be that we saw a little of that phenomenon tonight, though only time will tell of course. However you want to slice it, the Flames found a way to get two points out of a game where for the balance of the game they were not the better team. Los Angeles looked hungry for redemption after being embarrassed by the Canucks, but a timely late goal from Daymond Langkow, along with stellar play from a resurgent Miikka Kiprusoff were the difference in this game. The Kings will have to look elsewhere for their redemption–I suggest Tuesday night against Anaheim. Any way you slice it, the Flames end the night having won 6 straight games and launched themselves into at least temporary contention for first in the division. And thought this particular winning streak will be a distant memory in January, the points will count just as much then as they do now.
On The Line
With five straight wins in the bank, it’s tempting to feel that number six is just gravy. But with Vancouver having swept their West Coast swing, it’s important that the Flames do their best to keep pace. While the win against Boston was indeed impressive, now is a good time to resolve that game’s blemishes by getting off to a strong start and trying to get a very young Los Angeles team off their game early.
The Flow
In a game where the Flames actually weren’t that great, it must be said that they started out pretty well. After surviving some early penalty trouble, the boys in white looked more patient than determined, but all seemed to be on the same page in executing a simple game plan on the road. Patience, as they say, is a virtue: Eric Nystrom would open the scoring before the first intermission, putting the visitors up one before the break.
The Kings looked pretty good at the start of the second, but Calgary’s forecheck drew two penalties in the opening few minutes, which curtailed any momentum that the home team had mustered up. On the second powerplay, Aucoin would break the game open with a quick snap shot from the slot. L.A. would answer with a powerplay goal of their own (and a fortunate bounce) when an errant pass deflected off the foot of Dion Phaneuf into the Calgary net while Jim Vandermeer glowered on from the sin bin. The goal gave the Kings a much-needed shot in the arm, but the Miikka Kiprusoff held the fort for Calgary, keeping their 2-1 lead intact. The Kings went to the dressing rooms trailing, but probably knowing that they deserved a better fate.
Calgary started the third on a penalty kill, but rose to the challenge well, with Kiprusoff as the proverbial Horatio-at-the-Bridge, robbing Drew Doughty from in close in the opening seconds. The Kings would keep coming, directing everything up to and including the kitchen sink in Kiprusoff’s direction. As the younger team picked up the pace, it must be said that the Flames started to look tired and disorganized. Perhaps they turned their clocks back a day early? In any case, the legs of the Kings got going halfway through the third, confirming (in case there was any doubt) the bright future of this franchise once their core gets a few seasons under its belt. Oscar Moller would finally tie the game up, and the Flames were perhaps fortunate to be tied with 5 minutes remaining in the game. However, fortune favours the bold as they say: Daymond Langkow would retake the lead for Calgary just moments later on a nifty feed from Todd Bertuzzi, leaving the surging Kings wondering what just happened. A late penalty and a late flurry of chances were not enough for the Kings to find an equalizer, and one imagines that a loss like this stings even more than their 4-0 drubbing at the hands of the Canucks, who at least did them the honour of outplaying them through 60 minutes.
Three Stars
- Miikka Kiprusoff: Great goalies make all the saves they’re supposed to make, game in and game out. Then, once in a while, a great goalie steals one for you that perhaps you didn’t deserve. The Unflappable Finn ended the night with 37 saves, not to mention the coveted Calgarypuck first star.
- Drew Doughty: This kid is impressive, and his crafty move around a sprawling Todd Bertuzzi to create a very good scoring chance tells us all we need to know about the rookie defenseman. He has two great qualities in addition to god-given talent: courage and composure under fire. Drew Doughty is going to go far.
- Daymond Langkow: Scored the winning goal, and had the insurance goal on his stick early in the third to cap off a performance as clearly the Flames’ most versatile centerman. If Langkow can get his offensive game going consistently, this team will be hard to stop.
Big Save
With the Flames down two men in the first, the only thing that kept Jarret Stoll from opening the scoring was the outstretched pad of Miikka Kiprusoff. A few seconds later Kiprusoff would gratefully accept the assistance of the goalpost in stymying Alexander Frolov, but as they say the goaltender has to be a team’s best penalty killer, and Kiprusoff’s six saves on that sequence clearly showed that his head was in the game.
Big Hit
Jim Vandermeer earned himself a 10-minute misconduct for his troubles, but his tooth-rattling hit on Peter Herrold was the stuff of Don Cherry’s Rock ’em Sock ’em Hockey lore. It came at a time when the Kings were starting to find their legs, and whatever the results, showed that Vandermeer understands that sometimes a big hit can turn the tide.
The Goat
There are actually a few possible goats in this game, and I could have pointed to any number of general team issues–“clearing the puck on the PK” would certainly have qualified. However, I’m going to give the goathorns to Cory Sarich. Fighting the puck was just the beginning of the problem for the former Tampa Bay stalwart, as he also turned it over numerous times, both at even strength and on the penalty kill. On the second-period sequence that led to the Kings getting on the board, Sarich had about five opportunities to get rid of the puck and somehow couldn’t find the handle. Those kinds of sequences don’t always end in goals, but they can give your opponent momentum, and that was clearly the case here.
Mr. Clutch
I thought about Wayne Primeau here, but I have to go with Oscar Moller, who finally broke through the whirlwind of flashing leather that was Miikka Kiprusoff, and made the final minutes of this game very interesting. But for a missed opportunity from Tom Preissing and some late heroics from the aforementioned Finn, the Kings might have forced overtime, and it was Moller who gave his team a chance to win late in the third.
Odds and Ends
I hate to bring up “spasmgate”–but Todd Bertuzzi seemed to be favouring his back a little after a relatively innocent-looking hit from Brian Boyle in the first period. Could the big man be having back problems again? I know from painful experience that they can be very persistent… Kings’ rookie Drew Doughty gave props to Sean O’Donnell for mentoring the youngster as he transistions to the NHL, but it has to be said that Doughty looks like the real deal: poised, confident and very crafty with the puck… I couldn’t help noticing during the second intermission that Scott Oake is taller in street shoes than Mike Cammalleri is in skates. Clearly he’s not a tall guy, but he’s someone who plays bigger than his size… After a number of games in which the Flames limited the shots against, Miikka Kiprusoff was pelted with XX shots and numerous excellent chances… Jarome Iginla wasn’t horrible all game–but he sure wasn’t great. With just one shot on goal, he was kept off the board in every offensive category. To make matters worse, he took a late penalty that really raised the blood pressure of at least one Boston-area Flames fan.
Next Up
Calgary completes their West Coast swing to-morrow, facing off against the Anaheim Ducks at 6:00 MST. Don’t forget to turn your clocks back!
Lines (Or, the Ingredients in the Blender):
Bertuzzi – Conroy – Iginla
Bourque – Langkow – Cammalleri
Glencross – Boyd- Moss
Prust – Primeau – Nystrom
Regehr – Sarich
Vandermeer – Phaneuf
Aucoin – Giordano
