Calgary 4 Phoenix 1
I think it’s fair to say that these days that you just never know what you’re going to get when the Calgary Flames take the ice…
Tonight, however, we saw what the team has clearly been looking for through 7 games of what looked to be a team just easing its way into the season. A dominant performance that depended on an all-around team effort. Don’t look now, but the Flames have quietly put together a three-game winning streak and sit at a decent record of 4-3-1, far better than many of us expected after an underwhelming start.
The score probably flatters the Flames a little bit, as the Coyotes did “beat themselves” a little bit tonight: ill-timed penalties, turnovers at the offensive blue line, and a failure to get enough pressure–and enough bodies–to the front of the Calgary net (it looked pretty familiar, actually…). However, the Flames did what they needed to do to win tonight, and the all-around team effort saw goals from Todd Bertuzzi, Dion Phaneuf, Jarome Iginla and Brandon Prust, whose first NHL goal was the eventual game winner. Not bad for the rookie! Now if someone will just talk to him about that goatee…
On The Line
This is usually where we talk about the consequences of winning and losing. However, given recent history I think the Flames have a different objective: don’t have a meltdown. Too often in recent games, a single miscue has snowballed, and the team has failed to respond to adversity with composure and patience, often taking the better part of the game to start playing their game again. In that sense, Todd Fedoruk’s late first-period goal was a better test than the game itself. Could Calgary respond with poise and a little snarl, or would they fold like a cheap tent the way they did (let’s face it) after Nashville’s first goal on Thursday.
The Flow
The first period started at a reasonably high pace, with noticeably fewer penalties than in games past, which I have to say was a nice change. It would likely have been an even period of hockey, but for a weird powerplay ricochet from Todd Bertuzzi and a nice snapshot on a 2 on 1 from Brandon Prust, who notched his first NHL goal after a nifty pass from Wayne Primeau. Yes, you read that right. As the period wore on, things got a little bit more scrambly in front of the Flames’ net, culminating in a late Phoenix goal, scored while Adrian Aucoin was stepping out of the penalty box and Dustin Boyd was lying prone on the ice after a hit from Todd Fedoruk.
OK–I’ll admit it: I held my breath a little as the next frame started, given the second-period debacles we’ve seen in recent games. And it seemed as though my fears might be realized as Phoenix came out skating hard. However, it was Calgary that would strike first, with Dion Phaneuf padding the Flames’ lead on the powerplay, following his own rebound all the way to the top of Tellqvist’s crease for the tap-in. After that it was all Calgary–and I think it’s safe to say that this was the Flames’ best second period of the season so far. Which is a bit like saying that Attack of the Clones was better than The Phantom Menace: it’s setting the bar pretty low. Nevertheless, the Flames ended the second stanza having outhit, outskated and outchanced the Coyotes through 40 minutes, and for perhaps the first time this year I began to feel that maybe Mike Keenan’s boys might actually be for real.
The third period was like the denouement to a story that had already been written. The Coyotes fought valiantly to get back into the game, but as the hockey saying goes, they “worked hard but not smart.” Calgary settled into a nice forechecking rhythm, content to let the clock tick down for long stretches without a whistle while they nursed their two-goal lead. Jarome Iginla would add the empty net goal in the dying seconds, earning him the nod as resident “stat-padder” around these parts.
Three Stars
- Brandon Prust: This might seem like an odd choice, and I considered others–Dion Phaneuf, for one. But Prust looked impressive in this game, notching his first NHL goal and getting absolutely robbed two other times, which for a probably career fourth-liner is almost like getting a hat trick.
- Miikka Kiprusoff: Kiprusoff had perhaps an easier game than Tellqvist, but was solid through 60 minutes, a very good sign this early in the season.
- Michael Tellqvist: But for the Phoenix goaltender’s heroics, this game isn’t even close.
Big Save
This is a tough one. On the one hand, you have Miikka Kiprusoff robbing Martin Hanzal with his right pad as the Coyotes pressed for the tying goal early in the second. On the other, you have Michael Tellqvist downright robbing Brandon Prust just moments later with a marvelous glove save as the gutsy forward had two great chances from in close. I’ll call it a draw.
Big Hit
Mark Giordano lit up Peter Mueller at the 18:11 mark of the first–a pretty jarring hit, and mighty impressive for a player who used to known more for smooth skating than for physical play. It might have been technically less hard than Todd Fedoruk’s hit on Dustin Boyd later in the period–but Giordano’s had a huge impact on the game, since he also drew a penalty from Daniel “you won’t like me when I’m angry” Carcillo, who leapt to the defense of his teammate and received an unsportmanlike conduct minor for his trouble. Carcillo lived to regret his “Daniel Smash!” moment, as Todd Bertuzzi would go on to score on the ensuing powerplay.
The Goat
It’s hard not to earn yourself some goat horns when you find yourself looking on from the penalty box while the other team scores. Well that was Daniel Carcillo’s contribution to the Coyotes’ game tonight. To make matters worse? He did it twice.
Mr. Clutch
Wayne Primeau. Yeah, you read that right. In the first period, Primeau was nothing short of “Maguire’s Monster” material, killing penalties, throwing hits, and assisting on NHL Rookies’ first goals. Did I mention killing penalties? In a game where special teams were arguably a huge difference maker, Wayne Primeau was the grease in the PK-engine for Calgary, skating well and forechecking hard without getting caught deep. It’s time his naysayers admitted it: the big man can skate.
Odds and Ends
It’s nice to be able to say this: I like the way this game was officiated. There weren’t any really unnecessary calls, and only one glaringly missed call, that being the failure to book Todd Fedoruk for interference when he ran over the noticeably puck-less Dustin Boyd at center ice…. On that topic, that penalty ended Kiprusoff’s shutout hopes early, though I think he may well have “deserved” the donut in this one, even if he didn’t get it. A very solid game from the Flames’ netminder…. The Coyotes’ broadcast is terrible, beginning with mediocre camera work and ending with Darren Pang’s curiously persistent boosterism of the home team; he’s like Phoenix’s Baghdad Bob, only (probably) shorter.
Next Up
Tuesday night the Flames play host to the Colorado Avalanche. Game time is 7:30 P.M. with Sportsnet West offering the game in HD. Peter Maher will work his usual beat on the Fan960.
Lines (To Start):
Bourque – Conroy – Iginla
Cammalleri – Langkow – Bertuzzi
Glencross – Boyd – Moss
Prust – Primeau – Nystrom
Phaneuf – Vandermeer
Regehr – Sarich
Aucoin – Giordano
