Where the Wild Things are. Certainly not at the Saddledome this season. The Flames have been ho-hum and humdrum on home ice so far this year, dawdling to a mundane 3-3-1 home record.
Enter the Minnesota Wild. Not exactly known for delivering up the most enthralling brand of hockey over the years. But what used to be an automatic sleepy two points against their divisional rivals has been anything but as of late. The Wild have captured 7 of their last 10 against the Flames, including 4 of their last 5 in enemy territory. And winners of four straight entering the night, the Wild would prove to be a formidable foe this evening, as the Flames set out to wake up their game and wake up their fans on their way to become the King of the Wild Things.
The Flames must have felt like “Wild thing” Ricky Vaughn, pre-four-eyes edition, on this night. Showing signs of promise but no finish, their erratic play was good for generating some buzz but resulted in yet another disappointing loss. They might want to adopt the current Charlie Sheen mantra of “WINNING!!!” as now over 1/6th into the season and they’ve still yet to climb over the .500 mark.
On The Line
A chance to break the cycle of win-one, lose-one, which has marred the Flames’ season thus far. Good opportunity to do just that at home, and build off an impressive 2-1 road swing.
The Flow
The Flames came out guns a blazin’ wracking up 10 shots in the first five minutes. But it was the Wild who would tally first, following up some big saves by Niklas Backstrom with a relative softie by Darroll Powe. The Flames would continue to press, but despite outshooting the visitors 15-5 could not even the score.
The fire in the Flames game didn’t survive the Zamboni, as fresh ice produced a stale second period for Calgary. Another squandered powerplay was made even more bitter when Minnesota capitalized on one of their own, a slick passing play finished off by the ghostly Dany Heatley. Iginla would try to take matters into his own hands, in the literal sense, squaring off against Nick Johnson. Not using his head (by using his head) the young Wild winger was ejected from the game, but once again the Flames failed to take advantage, squandering the five minute powerplay with little to show.
The Flames wouldn’t lie down in this game, out-shooting and out-chancing the competition for the third straight period. But once again it would be their complete ineffectiveness on the powerplay that would be their downfall. An empty netter late by Guillaume Latendresse would seal the game and the shutout.
Three Stars
- Niklas Backstrom: Calgary fans are used to seeing fantastic Finnish goaltending, just not by the man in white. Backstrom was spectacular on this night, making 41 saves and earning his 2nd consecutive shutout against the Flames..
- Dany Heatley: Can’t say I noticed the guy much tonight, but he did manage to score a goal, add an assist, fire six on net and sit on Kiprusoff. That’s got to be worthy of a star.
- Jay Bouwmeester: I don’t know, he broke up a 2 on 1 nicely and went even with over 20 minutes of ice time, firing a team(tying)high 5 shots. They fired 41 on net, someone on the Flames deserves a star, plop in whoever you want.
Big Save
Just minutes into the game and the Flames swarming, Backstrom would track a loose puck and follow Curtis Glencross across the crease, throwing up the paddle in desperation to thwart a casual backhanded flip that was destined for the top shelf.
Big Hit
Not exactly a hit, but a critical fight by Jarome Iginla. Slumped and trailing by two goals late in the 2nd period, the captain would ignite his team by dropping the gloves and tuning a helmetless Nick Johnson. In seemingly self-preservation, Johnson was caught guilty of a couple of headbutts giving the Flames a huge opportunity they would ultimately squander.
The Goat
Without a doubt, the powerplay. Already a league-worst 7.4% at home coming into the game, the Flames would go 0-7 on the night, including the aforementioned 5 minute major. The Wild generated far more on their 3:10 of powerplay time than the Flames and their 17:00. Simply unacceptable.
Mr. Clutch
Tim Jackman. Another brilliant effort by the Flames warrior, something we’ve all become accustomed to from #15. He dropped the gloves for the third straight game and was a force all over the ice, narrowly missing his first ever point against the Wild on multiple occasions.
Odds and Ends
The Flames dominated the shot-clock today, a rare occasion. 41 shots — a season high. Throw in 27 blocks from the Wild and a barrage of misfires, and the Flames nearly threw a century of pucks toward Backstrom (who picked up his 2nd consecutive shutout against the Flames). He was superb on the night… Flames 28th in the league in face-offs coming in, won just 12 of 39 tonight. That’s not a typo. 12 wins, 27 losses. Wow. Might be time for Brendan Morrison (the NHL’s leading faceoff man) to check back in… Faceoffs are just one of the many reasons for the Flames anemic powerplay. Lack of intensity, movement, puck support, tape-to-tape passes; it all adds up. They need to take what they’re doing on the road and bring it home…. Wild win 5 straight, could playoff hockey be coming back to Minnesota? They didn’t look all that good tonight, but can’t argue with the results… Flames have scored first just 5 times in 14 games this season…. Not quite sure what Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond is doing in the lineup. He’s watching his teammates fight, while averaging less than 5 minutes a game… Second time the Flames have been shutout at home this year in eight games. Ugh… Hurry back Backlund.
Next Up
The Flames blow into the Windy city Friday night to take on the high flying BlackHawks in a Remembrance/Veterans Day tilt. 6:30 SN West.
Lines (To Start):
Tanguay – Horak- Iginla
Glencross – Jokinen – Moss
Stempniak – Stajan – Bourque
Jackman – Kostopoulos – Leblond
Butler – Bouwmeester
Giordano – Hannan
Babchuk – Smith
Kiprusoff
