It’s a very good sign for a hockey club when it takes the best team in hockey to provide an acid test. The Flames, in and around that 3-5 range in the overall standings are ever proving they are a contender of some sort. Sure it’s December, and there’s a lot of season to go. Sure last year all that talk of “elite” teams may have contributed to their late season swoon.
But this isn’t last year. Not at all.
The Sutter lead Flames enter the Shark tank, play a solid road game, and turn back the circuit’s number one club by a 2-1 score.
On The Line
The Flames sitting first in their division, are where they want to be. But a chance to move up against the top club in the conference and prove they belong with the biggest of the bigs should be all the momentum a club needs to find that fifth gear. We’ll see.
The Flow
A back and forth periods, relatively even in chances and shots is all the Flames could have hoped for against San Jose, one of the toughest building to venture into. A good set up for a road game in a tough barn.
More of the same in the second with some goal production. The Sharks opened the scoring when power forward Ryan Clowe opened the scoring four minutes in. Six minutes later the Flames tied it up when Olli Jokinen found the board with assists to Jarome Iginla and Jay Bouwmeester. A vicious late Shark powerplay ran up 7 shots and some good chances but no goals as the two clubs went to the third tied at one.
The two clubs moved the puck around early in the third with little going on. A broken play behind the Shark’s net resulted in a Rene Bourque centering pass to Daymond Langkow who one timed it past Nabokov to put the Flames up 2-1. That’s all they needed.
Three Stars
1. Miikka Kiprusoff: Typical game for the fabulous Fin as he continues to add great start to great start to great start. Amazing season thus far.
2. Jay Bouwmeester: Same old same old. Logs the minutes, sets up a goal, and quiets down Shark forays into the Calgary zone.
3. Joe Thornton: No points, but the best of the Sharks both in moving the puck and playing the body. Could have gone to Nabokov as well.
Big Save
This one is easy … Miikka Kiprusoff has a puck bounce off of him from Manny Malhotra and heading towards the empty net when he had the presence of mind to kick his skate up and knock the puck away in a save that has likely never been seen.
Big Hit
Midway through the second period Dany Heatley lugged the puck through center ice only to find Dion Phaneuf laying in wait to drop the boom and drop the sniper on his ass.
The Goat
No Flame goat in this one, a solid road game once again. I said it the other night when the club lost to Phoenix; they could have won, maybe should have one. But either way they stuck to the game plan and just didn’t find that goal. Tonight they did; in a tougher barn.
Mr. Clutch
Rene Bourque for his board work and pass to Langkow for the game winner. A strong player on the puck and a great reintroduction to the roster.
Odds and Ends
Don’t underestimate the effect of a win like this on an emerging hockey club like the Calgary Flames. B. Sutter has had them on page for the past few weeks which is a very good sign, but to win a game in San Jose playing his system just can’t do anything but help the team advance their confidence. … Interesting to see the flip flop of left wingers on the top two lines with Bourque joining the Langkow line and Nigel Dawes moving up with Jokinen and Iginla. The top line didn’t get a lot done, but Bourque seemed to click well with his new mates. … Leave it HNIC Healy to say something anti-Calgary after the game “the difference was Kiprusoff, amazing how great goaltending can cover all a team’s warts”. Thanks Glen. … The Flames now 4-1 on the trip with a gravy game in Los Angeles. A 4-2 trip was a massive success target going in, and now it’s all but assured. With the November schedule what it was, pretty amazing to see the club in the position they are in. … Don’t get the impression that the Flames were outplayed and relied on Kiprusoff to win a road game; shots were 36-36 in a well played game both ways. …
Next Up
Monday night the Flames conclude their road trip with a game in Los Angeles. Game time 8.30 Sportsnet.
Lines:
Dawes – Jokinen – Iginla
Bourque – Langkow – Moss
Conroy – Boyd – Glencross
McGrattan – Nystrom – Prust
Regehr – Phaneuf
Giordano – Bouwmeester
Johnson – Pardy
Kiprusoff
