The Flames have been on a bit of a role over the past two games, beating the top of the West Minnesota Wild in convincing fashion and then held on to defeat the Nashville Predators 1-0 in a defensive battle. So the team was hoping to bring the successes from the past two games into tonight’s contest. So fans entered the confines of the Scotiabank Saddledome looking for more against the leagues worst team, the Columbus Blue Jackets.
On The Line
Right now, this is pretty much a pride game. The Flames are so far behind the rest of the pack, and so close to the bottom that success is probably better defined by losing. But losing to the worst team in the league.. that’s still unacceptable.
The Flow
The game started, and it was like the Flames thought it was a 7:30 TSN start, because they came out and looked absolutely terrible, allowing the Blue Jackets to storm out to a 1-0 lead on Antoine Vermette’s 3rd goal of the season a broken play where the Flames seemed to give up in the defensive zone and Miikka Kiprusoff was left hanging. All this happened just five minutes in, before the Flames had even managed to get a shot on net. As the period wore on the tide slowly started to shift towards the Flames, eventually ending up in a strange play where Lee Stempniak simply threw the puck towards the net and it snuck through Curtis Sanford’s pads to even the score. By the end of the period the Jackets still had a lead in the shots on goal total, but the Flames had the better chances.
The second was much more of the same, the Flames continued to put more and more pressure on the Jackets, but not particularly generating a lot of quality chances until the dying seconds of the period when Rene Bourque took and outlet pass, flew up the left wing and fired a laser beam of a shot into the top corner. The Flames left the second leading by 1!
Entering the third period, the Flames were looking much more composed, much more confident and they continued to generate chances until the 5 minute mark, when new Flame Blake Comeau held the puck on a two on one, waited, shot and received a lucky bounce off of Sanford, a defender and into the back of the net for his first goal as a Flame and first goal of the season. But late in the period, the Jackets took advantage of a couple of lapses, the first coming when they couldn’t clear the puck, and a shot from the point from Nikita Nikitin fooled Kiprusoff, and then with the Blue Jackets net empty, Mikael Backlund failed to put the puck in the empty net, the Jackets turned up ice and Rick Nash was at the side of the net to deflect a shot past Kiprusoff to tie the game with less than a minute left.
Overtime solved nothing, though the Flames had a number of chances to put things away, so we headed to a shootout. The first two Jackets shooters, Jeff Carter and Fedor Tyutin were both stopped, as were both Flames first shooters, Alex Tanguay and Lee Stempniak but Rick Nash wasn’t, so it was up to Rene Bourque, but he missed the net, handing the Blue Jackets a come from behind win, and leaving a sour taste in the mouths of the Flames players, coaches, and fans.
Three Stars
1. Blake Comeau: A big, fast, physical presence the Flames have desperately lacked this season, Comeau picked up his first two points of the season, and first two as a Flame.
2. Nikita Nikitin: Also picked up a goal and an assist, his third period marker spurred the Blue Jackets on late in the third.
3. TJ Brodie: Brodie put in an unreal performance from the backend. Taking Mark Giordano’s spot in the top four, he flourished every time he was on the ice.
Big Save
Early in the third period, with the Flames still holding onto a 2-1 lead, Jeff Carter found himself sitting alone in the slot and ripped a shot to the top corner of the net, only to have Miikka Kiprusoff flash the leather and snag the puck out of the air in dramatic fashion. The Flames might not have picked up a single point if not for that save.
Big Hit
Early in the first, when the rest of the team was dragging their sorry asses around the rink, Blake Comeau stepped up and sent Derek Dorsett flying to the ice and that seemed to wake the Flames up, probably the main reason Comeau deserved top star honours tonight.
The Goat
As good as the Comeau – Backlund – Stempniak line played, their lack of finish at the end of the game, even to keep the puck deep in the Jackets zone with less than a minute remaining literally stole defeat from the jaws of victory tonight.
Mr. Clutch
I can’t say enough about how impressed I was by the play of TJ Brodie. In the pre-season, he did not show that he deserved to play in the NHL yet, and was rightfully sent to the AHL for seasoning. It seems that the outstanding efforts of the new coaching staff in Abbostford have done wonders for players playing down there, and they’re coming up prepared to play the NHL game. Brodie is a shining example, he was all over the ice making smart defensive plays, and incredible offensive ones. He’s looking like we all expected Jay Bouwmeester to look like when he signed in Calgary.
Odds and Ends
Let’s start with odds.. did anyone else get freaked out by James Wisniewski’s magic stick? Let me explain, he has a completely white stick. At times on the ice it looks like he doesn’t have a stick at all, and when he controls the puck, it tends to completely disappear!
A big return for Cory Sarich, the oft unused defenceman was quite good tonight, getting shots on net when very few other Calgary defencemen were even attempting to take a shot. Being out for so long has affected his timing though, before Comeau woke the Flames, Sarich had a great opportunity to light up a Jackets player, but held up and the collision was minor. The Flames really need to make a decision with him, he’s still a serviceable defenceman, and deserves to play, if not for the Flames then for someone else.
This writer was unbelievable frustrated with the Flames for the first 10 minutes of the hockey game, frustrated with both teams frankly. That was one of the worst displays of hockey I’ve seen in a long time, thankfully both teams got out of their funks and put on some form of entertainment.
That’s the thing about the Flames right now. I can accept losing, in fact, at this point, I think it might be the best thing for the teams future. BUT.. and this is a big but: I cannot tolerate a lack of effort, and a lack of enthusiasm. I pay good money to watch the Flames, I expect to be entertained, so when I see efforts like the first 10 minutes of the game tonight, I have it in my mind to storm down to the event level, throwing whatever security guard tries to stop me down the stairs and march into the Flames dressing room and just start whacking players with sticks. These guys should have pride, they should at least try during the 10-20 minutes they are actually out on the ice. So as grumpy as I might be, I’m okay with this loss. Just don’t pull that first 10 minutes garbage again.. you’re on notice!
Next Up
The Flames take on the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday night in Edmonton on CBC. Game time is 8PM MT.
Lines:
Glencross – Jokinen – Iginla
Comeau – Backlund – Stempniak
Bourque – Horak – Tanguay
Jackman – Stajan – Kostopoulos
Butler – Bouwmeester
Brodie – Hannan
Smith – Sarich
Kiprusoff
