Just one week ago, the Flames headed into one place they never have success; Columbus. The outcome was predictable: low scoring, close game, with the Flames getting sunk in the second period. Once Columbus got the lead, they protected it like pros.
The Flames came home from that game, and the epic failure in Chicago, with much to work on, and plenty of time to do so. The result of which was a very strong game for the Flames that only managed to get away from them at the end of the game, and under dubious circumstances.
As these two teams meet for the second time in seven days, the question was: could the Flames continue to improve, and stop one of the hottest teams in the West.
On The Line
The Flames are trying to keep up the pace with the extremely hot Colorado Avalanche who lead the division, and the Edmonton Oilers who were tied with the Flames for second in the division. Each of these points are huge, but with the loss a week ago, a win against the Jackets would be a great message.
The Flow
The first period was an incredible flurry of action going back and forth, which is honestly a little bit surprising when playing the Blue Jackets. Calgary got things started 2:42 seconds into the first period as Rene Bourque created a turnover at the Columbus blue line which Jay Bouwmeester picked up and fired towards the net and Daymond Langkow picked up the blocked shot and put it into the empty cage. Just 1:15 later the Flames went up 2-0 when Jarome Iginla carried into the zone, fed the puck to Curtis Glencross who banked the puck in off of a Blue Jacket defender for his fourth of the season. The Jackets would draw within one as Rick Nash turned on the afterburners while down two men, beat out a lazy Dion Phaneuf for the puck and made no mistake putting his fourth of the season, and second short-handed goal, past Mikka Kiprusoff. That goal was the Jackets first shot of the game. Normally this is where you’d stop seeing scoring, but no! The Flames weren’t done, as Jay Bouwmeester picked up his first as a Calgary Flame as he picked up a loose puck in the crease four on four: Flames up 3-1. The Blue Jackets had a late surge at the end of the period thanks to some power play time.
The second period started out disastrously for the Flames. With Robyn Regehr already in the box for a penalty he took at the end of the first, Daymond Langkow get’s called for the worst penalty call in the books: incidental contact on the hands with a stick, translation: hooking. The Blue Jackets made absolutely no mistake punishing the Flames at this point. Derick Brassard scored his first of the season on a point shot that Miikka Kiprusoff didn’t see, and then Jakob Voracek lifted a shot over the desperation attempt by Kiprusoff after a cross crease pass from Brassard and the game is tied. At this point in time, it looked like all hope was lost for the Flames. They stopped skating, they had no emotion, they had no intensity, they were like little children who lost their parents at Calaway Park while a thunderstorm was going on and couldn’t even be comforted by a stuffed animal. (That is in no way shape or form a true story.. from last year..). It wasn’t until Dion Phaneuf bobbled the puck, played catch with Mark Giordano, and then started an end to end rush (Bobby Orr styles) to score his fifth of the season. Calgary would limp out of the second with the 4-3 lead.
The third could easily be viewed as the coming of age for the Flames. During the second intermission, something must have clicked for the Flames. While the Flames got into some nasty penalty trouble for the second time in the game with Dion Phaneuf getting an arguably weak interference penalty for bracing himself, and then Daymond Langkow took an awful high-sticking penalty. But instead of giving up two goals, the Flames played the penalty kill perfectly getting into shooting lanes, blocking shots, tying up sticks, and clearing rebounds. Midway through the frame, Jarome Iginla was sprung for a two on one with Olli Jokinen from Fredrik Sjostrom, and scored an absolute rocket of a shot over the glove hand of Steve Mason for his third of the season. The Flames saved the best for last however. If you didn’t watch the game, go load up a highlight package because Fredrik Sjostrom scored one of the most amazing goals of the short season. Sjostrom took a pass from Robyn Regehr on his stick, BETWEEN HIS LEGS, blew around a Blue Jackets defender, had nothing to shoot at against Mason, but then spun around and slid his first as a Flame past the leg of Mason.
Book it: 6-3 is your final.
Three Stars
1. Jarome Iginla: Iginla had a three point night with a goal and two assists, but it was his most dominant effort of the season. Iginla was all over the ice except in the second when all the Flames were skating in mud.
2. Rick Nash: Nash scored a beauty of a goal short-handed to open the scoring for the Jackets.
3. Fredrik Sjostrom: Sjostrom set up the insurance goal, was a monster on the forecheck, one of the only Flames skating the entire game.
Big Save
Miikka Kiprusoff made a number of big saves, his most spectacular being a glove save on Raffi Torres, but the biggest one came while the Flames were up 5-3 and the Jackets were pressing, and he kicked a leg out on Andrew Murray to deny a sure goal that could have started a come back.
Big Hit
Aaron Johnson made his debut as a Flame and absolutely lit up a Blue Jacket forward as the Jackets were entering the zone.. a good start for the rugged blue liner.
The Goat
The Flames really shot themselves in the foot with special teams; and Dion Phaneuf was at his lackadaisical worst while the Flames were on a five on three. He wasn’t paying attention and let Rick Nash get a step on him, resulting in the Jackets first goal. That was the start of the turning point for the Jackets.
Mr. Clutch
As funny as it might sound, Dion Phaneuf is both the goat and the bull. He turned the Flames around with his second period end to end rush, because from that moment on, the Flames started moving their feet again, and got out of their funk.
Odds and Ends
When this contest started, there was no way anyone thought that it would end up with nine goals total between both teams, and that Steve Mason would allow six of them, but not surprising that the Flames gave up three goals in a game yet again. It’s frustrating as a fan and likely as a player, coach, manager, and owner alike. So hopefully the Flames can start to gain some more confidence in themselves…I really believe that this type of game is a real turning point for the Flames. It’s not uncommon to see the Flames falter as the game goes on, and to see how their confidence is shaken, but the fact that they managed to rise above it, start skating again, and get back to what they had success with in the first period is a huge testament, and something that the coaching staff and fans should be happy with. That doesn’t excuse three goals against, but it gives hope, besides, the penalties called in this game were just awful.
Next Up
The Flames have another three days off before they welcome the surging Edmonton Oilers and try to take the next installment of the Battle of Alberta in Calgary on Saturday night. Game time is 8:00PM MT and can be seen on CBC.
Lines:
Glencross – Conroy – Iginla
Dawes – Langkow – Bourque
Nystrom – Jokinen – Sjostrom
McGratten – Boyd – Prust
Regehr – Phaneuf
Sarich – Bouwmeester
Giordano – Johnson
Kiprusoff
