Rebuild or re-tool? It’s a question that has been swirling around the Calgary Flames for a couple of seasons now, and for good reason. What has been a largely veteran team has looked inconsistent and disinterested, and desperately needs an injection of youth. This has not gone unnoticed by General Manager Jay Feaster, and he has changed the look of the club over the past few days with some timely call-ups. The Flames have surprised everyone by sticking to Feaster’s pre-season insistence that the players who deserve to play will play, and it speaks volumes that names like Hagman, Stajan, and Sarich are out and Byron, Horak, and Brodie are in. With the Flames hovering near the bottom of the standings in the western conference, there is no time like the present for the young prospects to prove they can make their mark in the NHL, and provide the lift that this club so badly needs.
On The Line
A loss in Chicago last night dropped the Flames two games below the .500 mark, and they certainly don’t look like a playoff team at this point. If they want to even retain a hope of making the post-season, they need to start stringing some wins together immediately. The Flames have had a lot of success against the Avalanche in the recent past, so tonight would be a great place to start.
The Flow
The Flames come out of the gate a little sloppy, giving Colorado several early chances. Luckily, it looks like Kiprusff is in the zone and he makes a few solid stops to keep the game scoreless. Just over two minutes in, the Flames suddenly break out of their own zone with amazing speed, and a Derek Smith pass finds new call-up Paul Byron for a quick wrist shot that beats Varlamov for a 1-0 Flames lead. The play goes back and forth for a few minutes, until Alex Tanguay throws the puck into the slot in front of Varlamov and Iginla manages to bang it home to put the Flames up by 2. The Flames look as though they have found their legs, and match the Avs stride for stride, eventually drawing a hooking penalty on Gabriel Landeskog with about 8 minutes remaining. Unfortunately, they don’t generate much on the power play, but three minutes after the penalty expires a nifty passing play from Moss to Kostopoulos to Glencross finishes with the puck in the back of the Colorado net and the Flames with a 3-0 lead.
The second period starts out with a glorious chance for Iginla, but he can’t convert. The Avs do their best to push back and manage to get the Flames back on their heels but Kiprusoff is excellent and turns everything away. Lee Stempniak gives the team some breathing room when he out muscles Jan Hejda (with the help of a well-timed and uncalled slash) and whips a quick backhand past Varlamov. The officials make up for the missed call by sending Scott Hannan off for 2 minutes on a high-sticking call, but despite a few tense moments courtesy of a Rene Bourque giveaway, the Flames manage to kill it off. Glencross manages a decent shorthanded chance when he undresses the entire Avalanche team, only to whiff on the shot. Minutes later, Jarome Iginla bobbles a pass from Mikael Backlund and gives the Avs an odd man rush the other way. Milan Hejduk gets Colorado on the board with a hard shot that overpowers Kiprusoff’s glove hand and dribbles into the Calgary net, making the score 4-1 heading into the second intermission.
30 seconds into the 3rd, a Jay Bouwmeester giveaway catches the Flames disorganized in their own end and Matt Duchene wires a quick shot past Kiprusoff, setting the tone for the period. It was all Avalanche from that point, with the team believing that a comeback was within reach and pressing to repeat the impressive rally they managed to complete against the Islanders on Thursday night. The Flames did their best to help out by taking three consecutive minor penalties to Horak, Giordano, and Kostopoulos. Amazingly, they manage to kill them all off, but Colorado pulls within one anyway when a Ryan O’Reilly blast from the point is deflected by David Jones and beats Kiprusoff to make things really interesting. The last 5 minutes have all the intensity of a playoff game, with Colorado pushing hard for the equalizer and the Flames hanging on by their fingertips. Olli Jokinen takes a late delay of game penalty to bring everyone to the edge of their seats, but despite a flurry of excellent chances the Avs can’t get the goal they need and the Flames hold on for a 4-3 win.
Three Stars
1. Mikka Kiprusoff: Facing 39 shots, he was excellent when needed and at times kept the Flames in the game. Without his solid play, the outcome would have most certainly been different.
2. Gabriel Landeskog: Finished the game with no points and a -1 rating, but gave the Flames fits with his aggressive play. Sometimes effort doesn’t show itself on the scoreboard, and tonight was another strong performance from a player that has to figure into anyone’s conversation about Calder candidates.
3. Paul Byron: Got limited ice time but made the most of his opportunities. Started the scoring for the Flames and looked dangerous on several other occasions as well.
Big Save
Late in the third period with the Avalanche looking for the tying goal and putting the boots to the Flames, Kiprusoff made a series of stellar stops, including two spectacular saves on Landeskog to preserve the lead.
Big Hit
About 5 minutes into the first period, David Moss absolutely ran over Ryan Wilson on his way into the Colorado zone. It was the biggest hit in a game that (for the 2011/12 edition of the Flames) was surprisingly gritty.
The Goat
Turnovers. The Flames are prone to serving them up at the worst possible times. Two of the particularly awful variety came from Bourque and Bouwmeester tonight, and one of them resulted in a goal against. More focus is needed.
Mr. Clutch
Miikka Kiprusoff was excellent from start to finish tonight. After the rest of the team built a four goal lead and then tried their hardest to give it away, Kiprusoff held the fort.
Odds and Ends
It was nice to see the Flames young players come in and play well. Byron made an immediate impact, Horak continued his strong play, and Smith was solid on the back end. Brodie made some poor decisions with the puck but didn’t look out of place. It makes one wonder if Feaster has anything up his sleeve to make some permanent roster changes; it would be great for these players to have a chance to gel together and build on their NHL experience……Olli Jokinen is having a very solid NHL season, and has rounded out into a very good two-way player. If there is room for him on the roster and the price is right, he would be a good man to keep around next year……Despite each putting points on the board, neither Iginla or Tanguay played particularly well. Tanguay seems to be in full-floater mode, and Iginla still seems to be fighting the puck. The Flames best line was the trio of Stempniak, Byron, and Horak, although it seemed at times like Stempniak struggled to keep up with the speedy kids……for once the Flames were actually the beneficiaries of some blown calls; there were several infractions committed by Flames players in the second period alone that went unpunished……Kelly Hrudek absolutely lambasted Rene Bourque during the first intermission, calling him out as lazy and completely devoid of any passion for the game. I wonder if Bourque cares……this game had a heart-attack inducing tempo at times, and despite the frustration of watching the Flames nearly blow a four goal lead, was actually really entertaining to watch. That entertainment value is something that has been missing from far too many Flames games this year, and I hope we will see more of it in the days to come.
Next Up
The Flames return home on Tuesday for a date with the suddenly-hot Ottawa Senators and a chance to claw their way back to .500. A win might allow this team to finally build some confidence and momentum; both of which will be essential if they are to go on any kind of winning streak.
Lines:
Tanguay – Backlund – Iginla
Glencross – Jokinen – Bourque
Byron – Horak – Stempniak
Kostopoulos – Moss – Jackman
Giordano – Hannan
Butler – Bouwmeester
Smith – Brodie
Kiprusoff
