Not since the year 2000 have the Calgary Flames gone into Montreal and won a hockey game. On Tuesday night, at the start of a three game swing through the East, the Flames did what few Calgary Flames teams could do before, and win in the Bell Centre.
Fans of both sides were treated to one of the best games of hockey that you could hope to see, with end to end action, terrific goaltending, fights, and huge hits, proving never to anyone who matters, that a 1-0 hockey game is truly the most exciting hockey you can ever see*.
*This does not include Jacques Lemaire coached teams.
On The Line
Calgary heads into this three game road swing riding high on stellar performances from Jarome Iginla and Miikka Kiprusoff, but hope to keep the good times rolling. A win and a successful road trip is halfway there.
The Flow
Both teams started the contest with a lot of emotion, speed and physicality, but it was the Flames who garnered an early power-play thanks to Paul Mara and started to generate a good number of chances in the Canadiens zone. But it was Mr. November – Jarome Iginla – who got the Flames on the board at 14:55 of the first with his 9th goal of the season. The trio of Olli Jokinen, Rene Bourque, and Iginla worked the cycle down low until Jokinen was able to spot an open Iginla and fed him a pass. Iginla had to pause a moment to corral the puck and that likely set Halak off as Iginla wristed a shot past the Canadiens netminder, one that Halak is sure to want back. The Flames headed into the dressing room up 1-0 after the first leading 12-9 in shots.
The second period was one of the most entertaining periods of hockey. Montreal started out strong maintaining some pressure after a late 1st period power play was expiring, which resulted in some decent scoring chances if not for the goaltending presence of Cory Sarich who dropped down the block a point blank shot. The highlight of the period however was the two minutes of four on four that saw both teams flying up and down the ice, the biggest play being a breakaway chance for Scott Gomez where Kiprusoff spooked the Canadiens centre with a poke check attempt hindering Gomez’s chance to shoot the puck. No scoring in the second, but it was heavily entertaining.
The third was a more controlled effort for both teams. Calgary played a solid road period for the first five minutes of play or so, then the Canadiens really started pressing, but got into some penalty trouble. The best chance for the Habs came as former Flame Mike Cammalleri left Cory Sarich in a lurch and had a close in chance on Kiprusoff, but the cool Finn was more than up to the task. The Canadiens penalty troubles were highlighted when Daymond Langkow sent Rene Bourque in on a breakaway only to have Bourque’s shot stopped and his leg taken out from under him. The Canadiens tried to bring the attack back, but taking yet another penalty in final two minutes effectively killed them. The Flames finally came away with a win in the Bell Centre.
Three Stars
1. Miikka Kiprusoff: Mix one part luck, one part skill, one part good team presence, and two parts awesome and you have Mikka Kiprusoff’s 31st career shutout and 200th win as a Flame.
2. Jarome Iginla: Jarome Iginla in October is a shadow of Jarome Iginla in November. Iginla was a monster on the puck, looking more like Rene Bourque than October Iginla, and making it look good.
3. Jaroslav Halak: Face it, if Halak wasn’t on his game, Calgary would have thrown the Canadiens around…on the scoresheet AND on the ice.
Big Save
This is a tie: The Kiprusoff “save” on Gomez wasn’t technically a save, but Kiprusoff psyched Gomez out so we’ll count it, and while Halak’s save on Bourque wasn’t the same as Gomez’s chance it would have completely sunk the Canadiens had Bourque scored.
Big Hit
Using super secret technology, this is the ACTUAL transcript of tonight’s big hit:
Dion: “DION WANT PUCK. PLE-KAN-ITCH IN WAY. MOVE!”
*THROW*
Plekanec: “OMGIMFLYINGANDIMGONNADIE!!!”
Dion: “PUCK.”
The Goat
Scoring on the road isn’t the easiest task, which is why you need you’re power-play working for you. The Flames went 0/6 on the power-play, and it could have cost them. That being said, they were working hard, and against another goaltender, probably would have cashed in at least once.
Mr. Clutch
An absolutely monstrous game for Dion Phaneuf. He manhandled anyone who even came near him, his blueline, his goaltender, his body. Against a small team like the Canadiens that intimidation factor can go a LONG way.
Odds and Ends
Expect to see Olli Jokinen start scoring. On Saturday fans (coaches probably too if you saw Brent Sutter’s facepalm on Saturday) were frustrated beyond belief as Jokinen choked away scoring chance after scoring chance. But tonight, Jokinen had a number of solid chances that Halak or shot blocks stopped rather than Olli’s own brain farted on. He’s starting to move his feet, shoot more, and he’s going to start seeing chances go his way VERY soon.
The Glencross thing is stupid so I won’t talk about it. Other than to mention that it was really nice to see Brandon Prust draw back into the lineup. Prust really allows the Flames to roll four lines because of his energy presence. He is solid defensively, can fight (most of the time), and if you have a chance to check out his instructional video on flames.nhl.com he’s got a great hockey mind.
Sutter is turning out to be a real genius having stuck with the Regehr-Phaneuf combination, proving once and for all, that fans (D’Arcy McGrath and Grant Farhall included) sometimes have no freaking clue what is right and wrong, except when Mike Keenan is involved of course. The duo are solid defensively, solid offensively, can move with speed, can literally throw you into the stands if they see fit, and they don’t have to be overworked because Jay Bouwmeester can take 100 shifts in a row if he feels like it. This is just an awesome feeling right now.
Next Up
The Flames head into Buffalo on Friday night to take on the Sabres. Perhaps look for Curtis McElhinney to try and build a winning streak! The game starts at 5:30 PM MT and can be seen on Sportsnet West (HD).
Lines:
Sjostrom – Jokinen – Iginla
Dawes – Langkow – Bourque
Nystrom – Boyd – Moss
McGratten – Conroy – Prust
Regehr – Phaneuf
Sarich – Bouwmeester
Pardy – Giordano
Kiprusoff
Seriously.. that game was freaking AWESOME and so are you if you read this!
