Calgary 6 St. Louis 3
Well, here we are, the last road trip of the year. Next time the Flames dawn the white’s, it’s to be 2009. The schedule makers have given the Flames a 5 game home stretch over the Christmas holiday.
To boot, any Flames who decided to skip shopping in NYC and did some Christmas shopping in St. Louis 12 days ago on the last visit can return that St. Louis arch snow globe gift that maybe won’t fly with the girlfriend or wife after all.
On The Line
As always, 2 points, plus proving to themselves that they are that tier ahead of teams like St. Louis, and beating them down repeatedly, and to make up for a tepid effort last Friday vs. Florida.
The Flow
The first period starts rather scrambly, however within the first 5 minutes this looked to be one of those nights that the bounces were going to be fortunate towards the Flames. An entrance into the zone, and then retention of puck possession by Craig Conroy, who slides it over to Sarich, who proceeds to float a St. Louis-arch style floater towards the net, where an upended Jarome Iginla’s relied glove work its magic, and was credited with the goal. Andre Roy’s first shift soon follows and he makes a early Boxing day trip directly towards Cam Janssens, who ensured Brandon Prust will be eating his Christmas goodies in shake form in the last meeting. The game continues to struggle to find flow. and although the Flames look ok on a mid-period powerplay, that bears no precious fruit. However, the Flames begin to pour it on from that point, all over the Blues with maintaining and retaining possession in the St. Louis zone. Langkow unlucky not to get a goal after two great chances. Moss had chances. Chris Mason was exemplary in withstanding the barrage. However, Captain Calgary gets the puck, with time and space, in the high slot and whips an absolute rocket wrist shot inside the right post to put the Flames deservedly up 2-0 after 1 period of play.
The second starts out slow for the Flames. Only 1 shot 5 minutes in. It was a good one, with Matthew Lombardi getting a fortunate bounce off the post and a Blues’ defender to trickle one over. However, the Flames get caught soon after..Adrian Aucoin with a 2008 Seattle Seahawks pass, intercepted and turned the other way into a goal from the stick of Patrik Berglund. Soon after, a bit ogf hot potato, and a fortunate bounce in the Flames zone ends up on Brad Boyes stick and soon behind Miika Kiprusoff to make it suddenly a one goal game, completely against the run of play. After some solid work having the Flames gain a powerplay, Jarome Iginla continues his fantastic night, delivering an all world pass to Mike Cammalleri. Across the ice with some spicy mustard, Cammalleri without hesitation bangs it in. The Flames taking over again at this point, everyone jumping into the play, and soon after, a Matthew Lombardi rush finds a streaking Adrian Aucoin and makes up for his sloppy second period up to this point and deftly deflects the pass in. The Flames end up with 8 shots in the second…3 goals. 5-3 tally.
The third starts out with the Flames looking to play it out…however some shoddy defensive coverage allows David Backes an unobstructed tap in. Flames still have plenty left in the tank…call up Jamie Lundmark and Todd Bertuzzi doing some solid work in the corner on the cycle, Lundmark then setting up Daymond Lankgow for a solid one timer in the slot to go up 6-3. The night ends with a second Cory Sarich fight, this time taking on Cam Jassens, looking to make Adam Pardy be shake-mates with Brandon Prust.
Three Stars
- Jaromme Iginla: The extra “m” is for magical. Dominant, as Flames fans have come to expect. First goal aside, his second goal was unstoppable, his pass to Cammalleri for the game winner. Add on another assist and a four point night.
- Cory Sarich: Stepping up with his first multi-point night of the season, a +4, and handling himself well in two skirmishes in which the Blues were attempting to bullying the Flames.
- Matthew Lombardi: A great pass on Aucoin’s goal and his fortunate bounce for his own continues for that 3rd line where Glencross left off.
Big Save
Not too many to talk about. Blues goalie Chris Mason was sparkling in the 1st to keep the Flames at only 1-nil, however Miikka Kiprusoff with a couple solid glove saves kept the Blues confidence from rising.
Big Hit
In a chippy game that had more scrums than a Liberal and NDP coalition meeting, Cam Janssens with his gloves/arms/elbows up once again on a Flames rookie. Cory Sarich came to his aid.
The Goat
Really hard to pin the blame on anyone on the Blues. Simply out gunned and out manned by a superior team tonight. A lot of flat chested Blues jerseys in the arena tonight.
Mr. Clutch
Jarome Iginla. Took this game over in the first…after that second goal, the outcome of the game didn’t seem in doubt. After his less than stellar last few games and even more dubious looking shootout attempt Friday, its great to see the captain back on track. 1 point away from 800 in his already storied career.
Odds and Ends
Jamie Lundmark up for the injured Curtis Glencross. Somewhere former 2006-7 Popcorn Row mate Jeff Friesen is once again, just like that season, is doing little-to-nothing in honor of his buddy Lundmark. Lundmark looked OK, comfortable on the cycle, full value for his assist. To be honest, looked very good through camp and deserves his shot. Thanks to a crafty contract not requiring him to clear waivers, Calgary fans may get to see a fair dose of #45. Flames with 31 shots, and yet another overall winning faceoff percentage in the game…something that has improved this year vastly it seems to the naked eye, over the past few seasons. The PK continues its strong play too, fighting off 2 5 on 3’s again and giving up only 1 PP goal. The Flames schedule maker must have done this portion on a Friday afternoon. St. Louis twice before division rivals Minnesota once? The Blues twice in 11 days? The Flames playing the Blues on consecutive December 16th’s? Things that make you go hmmm stat: Tuesday’s has been researched as the night most likely for couples to engage in physical intimacy…with 11 Tuesday games in a row to start the season and a 7-3 record so far, one wonders if any correlation can be drawn between the two.
Finally, it just looks like this Flames team has 3 lines, through thick and through thin…take out a cog of that third line and another one steps up, and another comes up from the farm, and the Flames don’t miss a beat. Previous years, a third line injury meant that Mark Smith got some spot duty with Yelle and Nystrom…as opposing coaches snicker as they wipe that line off the team whiteboard and can shift any and all focus with to two Flames lines to have to contend with….not anymore. Darryl Sutter’s acquisitions to bolster the depth this past offseason continue to pay benefits…and guys having the chance to play on the third line are more hungry and eager to make the most of their chance.
Next Up
No time to visit the sights that St. Louis has to offer, or much time to check out Dinky Town in the Twin Cities to possible catch a Calgary prospect participating in underage drinking, the team has a date with the appropriately seasonally attired Wild tomorrow evening at 6pm Calgary time, on TSN HD.
A safe and merry Christmas from this CalgaryPuck contributor.
Lines (To Start):
Cammalleri – Langkow – Iginla
Moss – Lombardi – Bourque
Lunmark – Conroy – Bertuzzi
Nystrom – Boyd – Roy
Phaneuf – Giordano
Regher – Aucoin
Sarich – Pardy
