Calgary 6 Carolina 3
A great entertainer named Honky once sang the tune, “I’m cool, I’m cocky, I’m ‘bad'”. If you’re a Flames follower, its hard not to strut around with that similar mindset recently. Points in 10 of 11 games. On a roll on the road. An entire 2nd line obliterated due to injury, yet the replacements don’t seem to miss a beat. The acquisition of the seemingly mythical creature in Olli Jokinen and 2004 Stanley Cup prodigal son V2.0 return in Jordan Leopold, seemed to be the zenith of the Flames commitment to taking this season as far as possible. But why stop with being happy at the acquisition of NHL talent and depth? 3 goals between them within the first 17 minutes of their arrival the previous evening vs. Philadelphia and frolicking around the ice as if they’ve been part of the club for years. What’s next? Would that strut carry over to Carolina tonight?
On The Line
On the line this evening is a chance for the Hurricanes to leap within one point of a log jammed eastern conference playoff race. 3 points separate their current position of 9th, from the envious position of 6th. For the Flames, the continuance of the longest road trip of the year, the toughest part schedule wise, after playing in Philadelphia less than 24 hours previous. Flames fans hoping the strenuous back to back encounters doesn’t result in any more use of the dreaded “i” word, and one step closer to the Northwest division crown.
The Flow
The less said about the way this night turned out, the better. From the start, Carolina played a solid aggressive game. Curtis McElhinney started with a few in tight saves on buzzing Carolina forward in the first 5 minutes. A lunging save off a generous rebound, aided by Rod Brind’amour not hitting the wide open side, opting for the middle of the net, allowed McElhinney to make the save. Similar scrambles in the Carolina end 7 mins. in was one of the few forays into the Carolina zone, but also resulted in nothing on the score sheet. An questionable Olli Jokinen interference call set up the Carolina powerplay, Ray Whitney left open by the puck focused Flames defenders, and it was 1-0. Probably deserving given the run of play. However, disaster as Adam Pardy incredibly, blindly throws a pass up the middle of the ice, picked of by Sergei Samsonov who walks in and beats an already sprawled McElhinney to make it 2-0. 40 seconds later, a seemingly innocent shot on the Calgary goalkeeper again results in a rebound which ping pongs around and it finds the stick of Erik Cole, who makes it 3-0. 3 goals in 4 minutes and honestly, that’s the game.
Second period doesn’t start any better, although the Flames have some opportunities. A 3 on 1 with the Flames short handed not only doesn’t result in a shot on net, the Carolina defender breaks the play up at the blue line of all places, and catches the other Flame not yet off the ice as the replacement jumps on…leading to a 5-3 powerplay. Ray Whitney is allowed to move into the high slot, and flat out beats McElhinney with a slap shot glove side. Any comeback was now thwarted. Carolina up 24-9 in the second period in shots. Scott Walker comes out of the corner and shoots another one high on the confused McElhinney and the rout was officially on. 5-0 after two. Another Carolina PP in the 3rd results in another shot that the Flames aren’t used to seeing o in…12 feet out Ray Whitney goes shortside on McElhinney. 6-0. The Flames do take start putting more pucks to the Carolina net, and Jarome Iginla’s individual effort, beating the defender at the Flames blue line, out racing him and snapping a blocker side shot, prevents a Cam Ward shutout late. Ugh all around, final 6-1 Carolina.
Three Stars
- Ray Whitney: 3 goals, all on the PP.
- Sergei Samsonov: Even though only 17 minutes into the game, maybe the killer blow as he easily anticipates a brutal Adam Pardy pass and walks in all alone…if there’s one thing goal scoreres on the down side of the career still posses, its a nose for a wide open opportunity.
- Cam Ward: Some early saves made sure a weary looking Flames team didn’t get any early spark. As the PP’s piled up, so did the Carolina goals, and the game was over after basically 20 minutes.
Big Save
Really not a big save tonight. McElhinney’s lunge across the crease after the rebound looked to be going in looked good on first blush, on second, he had some help from Brind’amour’s relative inaccuracy. Ward with some subtle saves in the first, which kept the Flames off the board and mood turned into a general pensive, if not uninterested, state from then on in.
Big Hit
Kris Chucko and Cory Sarich with a couple monster hits at the respective blue lines, both knocking down Eric Staal. Denis Seidenberg with a cheap hit which caused Eric Nystrom to jump and and fight Seidneberg.
The Goat
The Philadelphia Flyers. They demonstrated first hand to the Flames what happens when not prepared for a team’s game plan of all out aggression and forecheck last night. The Flames seemingly got a little too buoyed off of that dominating win, and came crashing back down to earth this evening as punishment, emulating their opponents ways from the night before by being down multiple goals after 1 period.
Mr. Clutch
Ray Whitney, Pat Falloon’s lesser linemate in junior and drafted far behind his Chiefs’ teammate, still kicking around, and now with 300 NHL goals. A tap in, a good shot, and a shaky shot, all 3 count and all 3 powered Carolina tonight.
Odds and Ends
Ugh. There will be a lot of conjecture about tonight, but it came down to a good Carolina team attacking the weary and slightly over confident Flames early. A PP goal, a inexcusable mental error, and a puck not frozen in front of the net, and there it was, 3-0 before the Flames could get settled in this game. Give Carolina credit, they had tenacity in forechecking, and seemed to want to win battles more in the first…once that second, and then late 3rd goal went in, the Flames were already looking to Atlanta, and the rest of the night looked poor as the team was more or less playing out the string. It also doesn’t help when Carolina has 11 powerplay’s vs. Calgary’s 3….and many of the calls against the Flames were of the chinsey variety.
Not excusable, but face facts, the game was over after 1, or after Flames chances in the second, including a brutal 3 on 1, turned sour. Some may argue that none of the goals were McElhinney’s fault, however, that would be somewhat inaccurate. The first two, a pass on. The third one was a killer, and the opportunity was to either not give up a rebound, or cover it up when the rebound bounced around some skates…he did neither and it really sunk the heads of the team when it went in. The fourth goal…Whitney’s wide open, but McElhinney was able to come out and challenge…and blew it right past him. One wonders if even catching a piece of that puck would’ve prevented that. Goals 5 and 6 were soft…McElhinney down early and finding holes that Flames fans, and probably players, aren’t used to seeing pucks go through. Not pinning the blame on the young guy, but it really doesn’t look like the players had much confidence left in him. Maybe its spoiled-ness from Kiprusoff making those saves routine, or a bad night for Curtis, but either way, it would be surprising if he sees as much action as Mike Keenan planned for him down the stretch, as he had before the game. Most of the QC calls ups a -2, Iginla a +1 and looked solid, relatively speaking. Flames lose for the first time on the road to an east team in 5 encounters. Flames 2-7-1 in back to back games this year. Bad news, the last 6 of the season are all back to back affairs…the good news…playoff games usually aren’t on back to back nights. Flames still have not been shutout since opening night vs. Vancouver.
Next Up
Redemption vs. Atlanta. Playing in a little over 36 hours is obviously a good thing…and a deflating loss like tonight is better than a 4-2 loss where the team played just as poorly, but got less penalties against them and had a bounce or two go their way, as that play may have carried on through to Sunday. Atlanta should be prepared for a embarrassed, snarly Flames club. 1pm M(Daylight)T, on Sportsnet.
Lines (To Start):
Cammalleri – Jokinen – Iginla
Glencross – Conroy – Moss
Peters – Lundmark- Chucko
Roy – Boyd – Nystrom
Phaneuf – Leopold
Vandermeer – Aucoin
Sarich – Regehr
