And the beat goes on.
Eight straight losses, and a blown chance to move a point ahead of the Detroit Red Wings who had lost to the Minnesota Wild earlier in the night with a 4-3 setback in a shoot out in Dallas.
Results are the name of the game, but a silver lining could be had in that the team found some powerplay success, and not one but three struggling star players found the back of the net. And hey! Three goals!
On The Line
One game can easily be over stated, but eight? The Flames simply can’t afford this losing skid to continue any further or their season could literally be over. Teams that cough up ten percent of their schedule rarely go on to great things. So yeah … big game.
The Flow
An early Dallas goal by Mike Modano gave one that “hear we go again” feeling, as given recent games a good assumption of any goal against meeting doom was a decent bet. The Flames found their powerplay however, and forged ahead by the end of the first period on skid breaking goals by Dion Phaneuf and Jarome Iginla.
Another struggling player, Olli Jokinen found the twine in the second as the Flames built a two goal road lead and were cruising towards the third period before giving up a back breaking last minute goal to Jamie Benn with 24 seconds to play. Ouch.
A one goal lead in the third was due to see a Dallas push, and that’s what the Flames encountered. Sitting on the lead and getting in penalty trouble resulted in a fortunate Brad Richards bounce off of Dion Phaneuf with the Flames down two men to tie the score.
The Flames were the aggressors in the overtime period, but neither team was able to find the twine and avoid the shoot out. In the gimmick Jokinen, Lundmark and Iginla all missed for Calgary giving the team their eight straight loss.
Three Stars
1. Loui Eriksson: An assist, six shots on goal, and the shoot out winner. Good night at the office.
2. Stephane Robidas : One of the most unheralded players in the game, logged over 30 minutes of action and picked up two assists.
3. Olli Jokinen: Played like his salary … that is a head of steam on the rush, six shots on goal, and a plumber goal in tight to pace the Flames.
Big Save
In the third period Kiprusoff stoned Loui Eriksson not once but twice as the Star’s hot hand brought the puck out of the corner and tried to beat the Fin shortside high.
Big Hit
Eric Nystrom tried to get around Mark Fistric in the first period, but the lumbering Dallas dman turned his butt cheeks into the Flame’s player and crunched him face first into the glass. A big clean hit.
The Goat
Not a whole lot wrong for the Flames in this one. Their star players awoke, their powerplay was back on track and they found the net three times (a week’s worth of output for the team lately). But when two puck end up behind your goaltender on lucky bounces the game is what the game is.
Mr. Clutch
Jamie Lundmark, slightly over shadowed by Jokinen for a game star, the AHL man was solid with two assists including a great pass to Dion Phaneuf for the big defender’s powerplay goal.
Odds and Ends
I’ve seen a lot of hockey, but I’ve never seen a guy pull a helmet off a dude in a fight and then promptly hit him over the head with it. So odd. Talk about a brain fart. … Didn’t see a lot of the game, but Mikael Backlund looked pretty composed on his shifts that I did see. Nowhere near the panic stricken youngster seen in each of the last two training camps. Looks like some AHL hockey has helped settle him down, a very good sign. For the record he was -1 with just over eight minutes and no shots on goal. I did notice the young lad seems to have a touch in the face off dot though the Flames did out draw the Stars 31 30 on the night so he wasn’t the only guy with success … Interesting to see Aaron Johnson inserted over Cory Sarich tonight. Is Sarich having more issues with his always broken foot, or has he been leap frogged in the depth chart? He’s certainly struggled as of late. … The Wings lose in Minnesota allowing the Flames to gain a point, force a tie and regrab eighth place due to the extra win and same games played; not exactly what I thought I’d be typing into a game story in late January. … .
Next Up
Back to back games completed with a quick jaunt to play the surprising Phoenix Coyotes, who simply refuse to go away. 7pm game time PPV
Lines:
Lundmark – Jokinen – Iginla
Boyd- Langkow- Bourque
Nystrom – Backlund – Glencross
Sjostrom- Prust – McGrattan
Regehr – Phaneuf
Giordano – Bouwmeester
Pardy – Johnson
Kiprusoff
