It’s been a turn of fortunes for the Flames so far this season. For years the Flames have been nothing short of dominant at home and either fruitless or treading water on the road, but this season has started out differently. The road has been a far more comfortable for the Flames than the home barn. Having lost only one game in regulation, that loss coming against the Blue Jackets on October 20th, the Flames popped in to the Dome for a quick game against the Coyotes hoping to keep the road game rolling.
What fans saw wasn’t the prettiest game, but it could easily be classified as the type of win that the Flames have managed on the road so far this season.
On The Line
At this point in the season, the Flames had to be looking for two things: one being a win at home to try and right that ship; the second being an opportunity to inch a little closer to the division leading Colorado Avalanche.
The Flow
Having come off of a 4-0 shellacking against the Oilers, the Coyotes were very clearly hungry to get off to a good start. They carried the play for the first five minutes, generating seven shots on goal, three of which came in a quick burst that goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff had to be sharp to stave off. But once the home side settled down and started to work away at the Coyotes, the flow started to trend back towards the Flames. Two late period power plays back to back were probably the best shifts for the Flames as they had the majority of scoring chances and offensive presence during the four minutes. Another quick burst at the end of the frame from Phoenix, but the shot clock was the only thing the Coyotes had the edge in.
The second period was all Flames. Starting off quickly and maintaining a good amount of pressure in the zone, highlighted by a shift from the trio of Jokinen – Iginla – Lundmark, the Flames really started to press. Another good shift from the third unit of Conroy – Glencross – Nystrom saw the Flames take advantage of a turn over and Daymond Langkow buried his seventh of the season taking a feed from Eric Nystrom and finding a hole in the pads of Ilya Bryzgalov inside of three minutes remaining in the second period.
For the third period the Coyotes managed to claw their way back into the contest. The visitors were able to generate some good scoring chances, but it wasn’t until an unlucky reaction from Mark Giordano to bat the puck out of the air and into the netting that had the Flames on the penalty kill once again. For 1:57 of the penalty kill, the Flames were once again excellent and by far the better team. However, a failure to clear the puck saw Keith Yandle get the puck, he waited for traffic to form in front of the net, and then blasted home a shot, top corner. After that goal, you would probably have expected the Flames of yore to fall apart, but instead they went on the attack, and it was once again the Langkow line that cashed in off of some hard work along the boards. With the puck in deep David Moss fed a blind pass into the slot where Nigel Dawes buried his fifth of the season to put the Flames up by one for good.
Three Stars
1. Daymond Langkow: A goal, and assist and an absolute monster on the penalty kill. If you suggest, even for a moment, trading this guy, give your head a shake.
2. Nigel Dawes: Give credit to the little guy, he played with some jam tonight. Worked very well getting the puck into the zone and keeping it there.
3. Miikka Kiprusoff: Shockingly Kiprusoff wasn’t called upon to make too many big saves other than the one noted below.
Big Save
Until the last few moments of the game, the flurry of shots at the start of the game was probably going to take this crown, but Kiprusoff made sure to steal one from the Coyotes as he made one quick save then made a split that most guys would cringe just looking at to stop the rebound. Ouch..
Big Hit
A rather timid affair at the Saddledome tonight. Nary a hit to be seen worth of being called a SMASH! not even the fight between Prust and Bissonette brought much emotion or flash to this contest.
The Goat
If there was one guy to pick on it would probably have to be Mark Giordano for one bone headed penalty and one “why did you do that?” penalty. His holding the stick penalty was just plain stupid, and don’t swing at the puck when it’s waist high and in your own zone.
Mr. Clutch
Despite being 66.66666667% effective, the Flames penalty kill was fantastic tonight. Spending time on the penalty kill was almost a blessing in disguise because of how well they performed, outside of the last penalty in the final moments.
Odds and Ends
It’s been a while since I was able to watch a game in the stands and focus on someone in particular, tonight that was Dion Phaneuf. Unfortunately I have to discuss some frustrations in the kids game that I’m sure is giving the coaching staff heartburn. His lackadaisical approach to the game is extremely frustrating to watch. Perhaps it’s his style, but boy does he ever look lazy sometimes. The puck can be five feet away from him and he will make a half hearted poke at it with his stick instead of moving his feet or even using his body to make sure he makes contact with the puck. I don’t know what the reason for it is, but you can rest assured that he will never win any hardware with that kind of approach to the game.
The search for the top line LWer: bandied about by the forums, this is the hot topic on Calgarypuck Radio this week, and two of the options were displayed tonight. Dustin Boyd seemed to spend more time on the unit than Jamie Lundmark, and both trio combinations seemed to have a decent showing in the offensive zone, but unfortunately for Lundmark, the line’s play in the defensive zone was not good at all. Boyd didn’t look out of place, or all that comfortable on the top line, with an unfortunate midsection passing attempt to Iginla on a two on one late in the game. But he shows some promise.
Cory Sarich was a late scratch, no official reason, but it might have been related to taking a puck to the noggin on Monday night against the Ducks.
A really good sign of change in Calgary is the play of Jarome Iginla. Not the obvious offensive insanity we’ve seen so far this month, but rather his defensive side. The bad habits that have been brewing over the past three seasons are starting to be shed and it’s inspiring to see Iginla do little things, like back check. It sets a great example for the rest of the team.
Next Up
The Flames head out to Detroit to take on the Red Wings on Friday night game time is 5PM MT and you can catch the action on Sportsnet West.
Lines:
Lundmark – Jokinen – Iginla
Dawes – Langkow – Moss
Glencross – Conroy – Nystrom
Sjostrom – Boyd – Prust
Regehr – Phaneuf
Giordano – Bouwmeester
Pardy – Johnson
Kiprusoff
