The Calgary Flames have had a month to remember. Led by their captain, the Flames haven’t lost in regulation on the road in nine straight games, and have only lost two games in the entire month, both at home. So the best road team in the NHL headed into Nashville, a team they have dominated since the departure of Tomas Vokoun, hoping to tie a franchise record for consecutive wins on the road with ten, and reaching the break even point on a season high six game road trip. The Flames have been on some kind of roll (obvious?) as they’re even winning with Curtis McElhinney in net, and there was no reason to believe that the Predators could stop them.
On The Line
Keeping pace to stay atop the Northwest division, and a chance to strike ever closer to top spot in the conference was on the plate for the Flames if they won tonight. Plus a tough test of the offense against one of the better defensive teams (slightly better than Calgary) in the NHL.
The Flow
It was all Calgary all night long. The first period was a complete clinic on how to run an offensive zone pressure system with an aggressive forecheck, a flowing cycle in the corner, and a backcheck you wouldn’t believe. The only thing that didn’t manage to go the way of the Flames was in the goalscoring column. But if you’re a Flames fan and weren’t happy with that period, you have no sense.
The second period started the route for the Flames. While the shots were more even as the Predators actually had the edge in that department, a shot block by David Moss led to a breakaway and Moss tucked the puck between the legs of Pekka Rinne, followed by a Nigel Dawes power-play goal and the Flames were up by two heading into the second intermission.
The Flames floored the gas in the third as they easily controlled the play, and padded their offensive stats getting goals from Adam Pardy, Curtis Glencross and Jarome Iginla to walk away with a 5-0 win.
Three Stars
1. Miikka Kiprusoff: Kiprusoff was fantastic when he needed to be, which wasn’t really all that often. But he had to make a number of reaction saves that would have fooled many other goaltenders.
2. David Moss: Got the Flames rolling with the first of the night.
3. Jarome Iginla: The man is a beast, a goal and an assist on the evening to cap off an absolutely epic November.
Big Save
In the final moments of the first period the Flames established their offensive zone forecheck and with the puck behind the net Jarome Iginla drove out and tried to jam the puck in, with Olli Jokinen stepping up the pressure. The Predators likely would have folded like a cheap tent if the Flames had scored in that last gasp of the first.
Big Hit
Not a wild hitting affair, the Flames seemed to be far more interested in skating the Predators into the ground rather than hitting them, but the big near miss was Eric Nystrom slamming into the boards as a Predator defenceman narrowly avoided getting flattened.
The Goat
No chance for a goat tonight. The Flames were in all out domination mode. You can’t even fault the Predators because they were simply at the mercy of the best road team in the NHL running on nitrous.
Mr. Clutch
The Flames powerplay has been slipping of late, and they came back in a big way tonight scoring on both of their opportunities.
Odds and Ends
Since losing to the Blackhawks the Flames have lost once, in overtime against the Ducks, a game they had the edge in play in, the Flames have been white hot winning every other contest, and tonight was a pinnacle of performance. So while the Flames biggest test has been the Blackhawks, and they’ve failed those tests brutally, everything else the NHL has thrown at Calgary, the Flames have found a way to win against. Even the games that they shouldn’t win, or that no one would expect them to win, the Flames are somehow winning. Whenever the team starts to fall off the Brent Sutter System, the game tape from tonight’s contest should be shown. Perhaps the Sutter clan can start researching a way to implant dreams in the minds of players so that they always remember this game and see what they are capable of. This game was won on the back of nothing short of pure effort, skating, aggressive attack, and responsible defence. Here’s hoping that Flames fans can witness more and more games like this in the future
Next Up
The Flames head into Phoenix to take on the Coyotes on Thursday night. Game starts at 7:30 MT on Calgary Flames Pay Per View.
Lines:
Lundmark – Jokinen – Iginla
Dawes – Langkow – Moss
Glencross – Conroy – Nystrom
Sjostrom – Boyd – McGrattan
Regehr – Phaneuf
Giordano – Bouwmeester
Pardy – Johnson
Kiprusoff
