Coming into tonight’s contest in Florida, the Flames have been struggling to find their winning ways, but with two wins in their last three games, albeit against the worst and second worst teams in the league, the building blocks of confidence have started to appear. But the question still remains, can the Flames manage to win a game against at team that isn’t statistically the worst teams in the NHL? Well, the Panthers aren’t the worst, and they do have the hottest goaltender in the world right now, but they still aren’t the best that the NHL has to offer. So tonight’s win is just another step in the right direction.
On The Line
For the most part, while the understatement of the importance of maintaining a playoff spot is still there, these games are all about building up the confidence of the team heading into the Olympic break.
The Flow
You can look at the box score for tonight’s game and for once it tells the true story of this game. Calgary dominated this hockey game through and through. Starting in the first period, the teams were fairly even, though the Flames tended to have the majority of scoring chances. Things were scoreless until the final moments of the first period when Ales KO-TA-LIIIIIIIK KO-TA-LIK scored his first as a Flame and ninth of the season on the power-play firing a puck on net that deflected past Tomas Vokoun.
The Panthers got on the board early on in the second period on a power-play of their own with Cory Sarich off for interference and a bouncing puck that ended up on the stick of Dennis Seidenberg found the back of the net. A complete fluke of a goal as the puck bounced off of several players in a clearing attempt before Seidenberg found it and fired it home. But the Flames came back once again near the end of the period to take the lead when Mark Giordano blasted a one timer from Ian White for his ninth goal of the season.
The third period was completely dominated by the Flames outside of a power-play opportunity. The Panthers only managed two shots on goal in the entire frame to Calgary’s ten. Calgary had a chance at the empty net in the final minute but an offside call put Vokoun back in net for the remainder of the game. The final shot total heavily favoured the Flames 40-13.
Three Stars
1. Mark Giordano: The most balanced defenceman for the Flames the past two seasons continued his strong play with a goal.
2. Jay Bouwmeester: Returning to his home for over 400 games, the smooth skating defenceman logged nearly 30 effortless minutes and picked up an assist.
3. Tomas Vokoun: Vokoun continued his strong play allowing two goals on 40 shots.
Big Save
In the first period Miikka Kiprusoff slid across the crease to take away a sure goal from Kamil Kreps. That shot goes in and this game is a completely different story.
Big Hit
Midway through the third period Robyn Regehr caught Rostislav Olesz in the corner and leveled the Panthers forward.
The Goat
Hard to find a goat for either team in reality. The Flames were extremely aggressive and the Panthers just didn’t have anything to defend it. The Flames simply outclassed the Panthers.
Mr. Clutch
This has to go to Tomas Vokoun. Without his heroics in this game the score is easily 5-1 or 6-1 for the Flames.
Odds and Ends
Big contributions from the new additions tonight. It’s hard to explain, but the team was incredibly focused and finally seemed to display the wolf pack attitude that Brent Sutter talked about at the start of the season. The weights appear to be lifting off the shoulders of the Flames….It was the 1000th game for Flames captain Jarome Iginla tonight, and while he wasn’t overly visible, he still led the Flames forwards in ice time with just over 19 minutes….Ales Kotalik adds something very interesting and very dangerous on the power-play. A right handed shot that is an absolute cannon, but he’s a forward. Tonight saw him covering a two on one against and he might need some time to communicate with his goaltender to know what Kiprusoff’s preference for coverage is in that situation, but it was lucky that the puck rolled off the Panthers forward’s stick….Fantastic game from Niklas Hagman and Chris Higgins tonight. Higgins was a monster on the puck, and Hagman had a number of scoring chances.
Next Up
The Flames head up the road to Tampa Bay to take on the Lightning tomorrow afternoon/evening with a special presentation on CBC starting at 5PM MST.
Lines:
Hagman – Stajan – Iginla
Higgins – Langkow – Kotalik
Glencross – Backlund – Bourque
Nystrom – Mayers – Boyd
Regehr – White
Giordano – Bouwmeester
Pardy – Sarich
Kiprusoff
