Despite all the doom and gloom that seems to surround the Calgary Flames these days, it’s hard to fault a hockey team for taking two games of three on a road trip early in the season.
They completed that task, moving back to .500 on the season with a 2-1 victory in Denver tonight; a win that comes in the midst of ever mounting scout counts in press boxes and rumours swirling around the club.
On The Line
Rumours are surrounding the Flames as the team’s management and coaching group is coming to grips with the fact that the team just isn’t that good. They can be. But they’re not more often than not. A win tonight, however, would give the team a 2-1 record on a decently difficult road trip and certainly keep the wolves at bay.
The Flow
About as bad a start as a road team can have with the Flames giving up a goal in the first minute and planting themselves firmly behind the eight ball. Things get better five minutes into the period though when Mark Giordano had a seeing eye knuckleball find the corner past Varlamov and tie things up. Both teams push back and forth but the period remains tied; edge in chances and shots to the home side.
Much better road period from the visitors where the Flames seem to have jump and flow to their game and have their chances early. A fortunate bounce off of Glencross on a Calgary powerplay results in the Flame’s first lead of the night on a powerplay and the period stats that way through a few chances both directions.
Back to a Buffalo like stance for the Flames in the third where they essentially chipped pucks off the boards, had no puck possession and relied on Kiprusoff and clock killing as their main mode of defense. Not a great plan. With four minutes to play the Flames produce back to back carbon copy two on ones but end up with an Alex Tanguay post, and a Mark Giordano shot into the pillows to keep the score tight. Late the Flames hold on with some blocked shots and gritty play in front of Kiprusoff.
Three Stars
1. Miikka Kiprusoff: Very even game through 40 minutes but the veteran goaltender was the man late in keeping the home side at bay as they pushed to tie the game.
2. Mark Giordano: Scored a goal, played a tonne, and blocked two key shots in the final 20 seconds to preserve the win.
3. Paul Stastny: The lone marksmen for the home club.
Big Save
An odd turn over in the second period lead to a great deflection save by Kiprusoff and then a solid save by defenseman Smith off of rookie Landeskog when he curled into the crease to help support his goaltender. Kept the score 2-1 Calgary going into the third peirod.
Big Hit
The Flames inserted Letourneau-Leblond and he didn’t disappoint physically as he ran Ryan O’byrne into the corner boards behind the Av’s net.
The Goat
Alex Tanguay … I’m reaching as the whole team played well or at least worked well. But a combination of his goalpost with three minutes to play and then attempt at the empty net with less than a minute to go could have really come back to haunt him.
Mr. Clutch
Mark Giordano. I know we don’t normally pass the Clutch to a guy that’s a game star but you have to love Giordano’s complete game. He’s really come a long long way.
Odds and Ends
Assuming that Morrison isn’t hurt it’s interesting to see the veteran winger sat tonight for Hagman to draw back in. He hasn’t been right since he got back, but then only games will get him “right”. Either way there seems to be an aggressive stance from the team (vocally from Feaster, benchings from Sutter) to keep the team more honest when it comes to consistency, effort and mental mistakes. Has to be a good sign. … Simmer talking about the number of whistles in the first period (24) and second (16). Have never heard that stat quoted before; kind of interesting to track. … The Flames bench was completely correct in complaining that Varlamov played the puck outside of the trapezoid; clearly he did but no call. Personally I say lose this rule anyway, Marty Turco is no longer a threat and Martin Brodeur is up there in years. Silly … Will this roadtrip mark the return of Anton Babchuk to fulltime Flames duty? Sarich was scratched, and Babchuk didn’t play much, but he had a much stronger set of games away from Calgary. … The Flames are in 12th spot buy only 2 points out of a playoff spot. Not as gloomy as you thought right? Me neither. … In the past few seasons the Flames have gone back and forth between offensive teams and defensive teams. This year? More of the same. Team defense 13th (improvement), team offense 23rd (worse). … 18th best powerplay and 19th best penalty kill
Next Up
Back to the Dome to host the Wild on Tuesday night; game time 7.30 on Sportsnet.
Lines:
Tanguay – Horak- Bourque
Glencross – Jokinen – Iginla
Stajan – Hagman – Stepniak
Jackman – Leblond – Kostopoulos
Butler – Bouwmeester
Giordano – Hannan
Babchuk – Smith
Kiprusoff
