Haven’t we seen this October before?
The Calgary Flames have fumbled out of the gates for the 2nd year in a row, posting a meager 2-4-1 record to go along with the lowest offensive output in the conference. Everyone knows this team is capable of much more, but how long will they let this slide? We saw last season what happens when you have to play catchup for 2/3 of the year. This wayward ship needs to be righted…right about now.
On The Line
Calgary needs a win to stay out of the basement in the Western Conference, and the Avalanche are looking to maintain course and keep their early and surprising Northwest division lead. More importantly for Calgary, they need to find some offensive touch that has been sorely lacking through 7 games. The offensive skill is there with plenty of weapons…they just need to start clicking.
The Flow
The Flames had to be overjoyed with their start to this one. Calgary adopted a shotgun approach and just threw everything they had at the Avalanche net and J.S. Giguere. Unfortunately the Avalanche found pay dirt first after a Rene Bourque tripping penalty gave them the man advantage. Kyle Quincey found a rebound after Paul Stastny’s shot hit the post and careened right to him for the easy tally and a 1-0 lead. Calgary would strike back just 3 minutes later when Roman Horak backhanded the puck from the seat of his pants past Giguere for his 1st NHL goal and a huge answer to the early Ave’s Tally. The period ended with a heavily tilted shot clock of 21-5 in favour of the home team, but the game itself was knotted at one.
The second period featured a pushback from the Avalanche as they carried the play and majority of shots. But it was Calgary who would find the scoresheet not once but twice before the frame ended. First, Roman Horak fired a strong slapshot towards the net which bounced out to Lee Stempniak who backhanded his first goal as a Calgary Flame to stake the Flames to their first lead of the game. Then on a Calgary powerplay Anton Babchuk slapped the puck to the net and Rene Bourque batted the rebound out of mid air in to the cage to make it a 3-1 game. The Avalanche almost got lucky very late in the period when the puck took a bad bounce off a dump-in around the end boards which almost ended up in the Flames net. Luckily for Calgary Roman Horak was there to clear the puck out of harms way as time expired.
The 3rd period saw Colorado put their foot firmly on the gas peddle, testing the Flames defense and Kirpusoff with every shift. The 3rd was a complete 180 of the 1st, as Colorado outshot Calgary 20 to 7 and made the game a little tighter at 15:29 when Ryan Wilson captured a rebound and slammed it past Kirusoff’s out streched pad to make it a 3-2 game. This came after Kiprusoff made a series of great saves over a 10 minute span to keep the score where it was. Rene Bourque put the game out of reach with an empty net goal, his 2nd of the night when he was hauled down on a breakaway with the net vacant – an automatic goal was awarded.
Three Stars
1. Roman Horak: This was the Czech forwards best NHL game collecting his 1st National hockey league goal and an assist to go along with it. Add in 3 shots and 16:29 of solid icetime and you have tonight’s best player.
2. Miikka Kiprusoff: Was relatively untested through 2 periods but turned away many difficult shots and scoring opportunities in the 3rd period to weather the Avalanche storm. Stopped 34 of 36 shots overall for a big win on his 35th birthday.
3. Rene Bourque: 2 big goals and 6 shots and a good game overall.
Big Save
There were a few, but the biggest had to be Kiprusoff sliding across the crease to rob Milan Hejduk after a rebound came straight to the Avalanche forward who had what looked to be a sure goal. It happened about midway through the 3rd period with the Flames leading by 2, so you can look back at this save and say it was the difference in the game.
Big Hit
Not very much physicality tonight but Mark Giordano standing up Gabriel Landeskog in the 2nd period was likely the biggest of the evening.
The Goat
No obvious goat to point out tonight…pretty solid game overall and can’t really fault any Avalanche players for any Flame goals. They were the direct result of firing pucks on the net and collecting rebounds.
Mr. Clutch
Miikka Kiprusoff stood out in the 3rd period when the team badly needed him. 3 or 4 huge saves that I can remember and many more unspectacular ones that were just as important.
Odds and Ends
The Flames dressed 11 forwards and 7 defensemen tonight as Glencross was a late scratch with a lower body injury and Matt Stajan was also scratched from the lineup. I am all for this type of lineup every night, even if Babchuk only gets PP time. He made an immediate difference with his big shot collecting the assist on Bourque’s marker. Horak didn’t look out of place with the extra icetime so I say ice the same lineup on Friday and if you win, keep it going. This was Colorado’s first road loss of the season. Shots were 36-34 in favour of Colorado. Jay Bouwmeester led both teams in icetime with 24:18. This was not a perfect game by any stretch of the imagination, but beating the top team in the division, even this early in to the season has to feel good. A huge 4 point game now matters just as much as it will in March.
Next Up
The Flames host the Blues on Friday night. Gametime 7:00 pm and can be seen on Sportsnet West or heard on the Fan 960.
Lines:
Tanguay – Morrison – Iginla
Bourque – Jokinen – Moss
Hagman – Horak – Stempniak
Jackman – Kostopoulos
Butler – Bouwmeester
Giordano – Hannan
Smith – Sarich
Babchuk
Kiprusoff
