The Flames bronzed with Florida tans and counting the days until the Olympic break, head to Ottawa in a eastern conference tilt. The Flames are 8-1 against fellow Canadian teams so far this season, and see Ottawa within 10 days post- Olympic break. With only 5 days until a 2+ week break, and 2 days off, both teams look to finish the month on a high. The Flames especially, still taking baby steps after the elephant demolished the dressing room 10 days ago, find this next 3 games key in both the playoff race, and building towards becoming a team familiar with the new faces in the room, and the new skill on the ice.
On The Line
On the line, the Senators look to start another monumental winning streak, the previous one snapped Saturday night by Toronto. Calgary’s looking to get a better grasp of the playoff race, with the division title, much to many’s likely bewilderment after the brutal January, a mere 5 points away heading into the evening. Again, the continued gelling of the Flames is key before the team takes a two week break.
The Flow
The first period starts off with the Flames second line of Daymond Langkow, Ales Kotalik and Christopher Higgins drawing an early penalty. A decent Flames powerplay, with Senators goalie Brian Elliot there to stop the Flames early. The Flames continue their jump through the period, with the top 2 lines certainly looking the most focused and seemingly creating a scoring chance each shift, but Elliott there. With 4 minutes to go, another confident sequence from the top line, Jarome Iginla enters the zone, drawing the flow of the play over to him. Trailing behind in space, Niklas Hagman finds space. Iginla finds him and Hagman blows a laser beam past Elliott for his first goal as a Flame. The next shift, however. a chintzy call on Ian White, gives the Senators a powerplay. A missed holding call off the next draw, the puck finds its way to Alexei Kovalev, and his wayward slap shot bounces off two Flames players, the last being Langkow, for a pinball goal. The Flames come back with a few more chances at the end of the period, and are unfortunate, after carrying the play all period, to be tied at 1. 12-11 shots for the Flames.
The second period starts once again with the top 2 lines buzzing. A quick transition. Hagman, to Iginla, who flutters a great touch pass to Matt Stajan, who goes backhand/forehand and pots the puck in Ottawa’s net. Pretty goal. The Flames continue to buzz, almost every shift the team forechecking in the Sens zone and in the neutral zone results in a decent scoring chance or shot on net. The Flames then fall victim to yet another bounce, a clearing pass inadvertently glances off Jesse Winchester’s skate and right to Jarko Ruutuu who quickly has to snap it in from the low slot. The dubious refereeing of the contest continues, Mark Giordano picking up the next penalty for a weak roughing call, and skating to the box after having to dust himself after getting knocked to the ice in the same scrum. The Flames kill off the penalty. Before the end of the period, yet another missed call as Daniel Alfredsson hooks Mark Giordano, which allows Jonathan Cheecho to take the puck. He manages to slide the puck through a flailing Adam Pardy’s skates, and Jason Spezza puts the puck in the net. Inexplicably, the Flames, the better team on the whole, a victim of unfortunate bounces and a missed call, are down 3-2 after 2, outshooting the Senators 23-20 after 2.
The third period is a grind, with both teams settling into the play. The Flames keep coming at the Senators, but a non-descript period with a clogged up neutral zone. With less than a minute to go, out of nowhere, a horrible penalty call against Jay Bouwmeester on Kovalev. The Flames pull the goalie, and the 5 Flames have a great chance, as White passes to Hagman, and his rebound goes right to Stajan who can’t put it past Elliott. Game over.
Three Stars
- Brian Elliott: Stopper continues to make quality saves and gets the job done. Emerged as number one goaltender.
- Miikka Kiprusoff: Expected solid game, some highlight saves off of Cheecho, and there again to give the Flames the chance and unlucky to be the victim to some bad bounces.
- Niklas Hagman: Great goal, and him teaming up with Iginla was a threat each shift is a welcome change to see. A second period injury scare turned out to be just a stinger. Hopefully the chemistry continues and builds as the games go on for this quality forward who scoring will be welcome, and needed, for the team to continue to advance.
Big Save
Miikka Kiprusoff pulls off a great stick save of Cheecho midway through the second. The ex-Shark shows his 5 goal season form, being a bit too casual on what seemed like a gaping net and he circled the cage. Kiprusoff was able to get the stick down along the goal line and keep the game tied at 2.
Big Hit
Chris Neil lays out an unsuspecting Jamie Lundmark in the first period in round 1 of Neil’s bully routine. The cheap Neil also figured it would be a good idea to stick the knee out on a late hit on Mark Giordano in the third.
The Goat
The entire officiating team. From phantom roughing calls, calling off icing’s after the puck had crossed the line, missing hooks and calls, one of which lead to the winning goal, and after all the cheap stuff being let go all game, a weak penalty call against a theatrical Kovalev topped off a pathetic night for the referees.
Mr. Clutch
Brian Elliot made numerous saves as the Flames held the territorial advantage the entire game on the Senators, and the Flames were creating good chances.
Odds and Ends
Very good game from the Flames. Anyone who believes that the Senators were the better overall team needs their heads examined. Ottawa gets bounces on all 3 goals and assistance from the officiating most of the evening. The Flames get one powerplay a minute into the game and the 3 Ottawa powerplays were again on calls that were questionable to say the least. The Flames had some sloppy play in their own zone, although Pardy’s miss on the game winning goal shows that playing proper positional hockey is only half the battle. The first two periods, both the top two lines looked great. Langkow looks a lot more comfortable with Higgins and his defensive play, and nose for the net, and Kotalik always willing to pull the trigger. Stajan, Igina and Hagman were creative and getting themselves and each other space in order to try and make plays, something missing desperately before the trade for those players. Dustin Boyd and Mikael Backlund each 70% on the faceoff. Eric Nystrom with one shift in the 3rd period. May sound like a broken record, but the Flames and the top two lines play like that, the Flames will be just fine.
Next Up
Next up, the Flames head back home for 3 weeks, starting with a game Thursday vs. the pesky Dallas Stars. Calgary Flames PPV has its second last telecast of the year.
Lines (To Start):
Hagman – Stajan – Iginla
Higgins – Langkow – Kotalik
Glencross – Backlund – Lundmark
Nystrom – Boyd – Mayers
Regher – White
Sarich – Bouwmeester
Giordano – Pardy
