Youth meets experience, grizzled vets meet peach fuzzed freshman … two good hockey teams hooked up in Calgary on Friday night as the city in a deep deep freeze was getting ready to welcome the holiday season.
The Wings and Sharks are the class of the West, there is little doubt about that, but from early November on the Flames and Hawks have kept pace with their conference leaders creating a much bigger gap between the top five (including Vancouver) and the bottom ten then we’ve seen in the past few years.
Tonight in a great up and down hockey game, it was the red hot Hawks who found that one extra shot in taking a 3-2 overtime tilt away from the Flames.
On The Line
Another game to just keep on keeping on for the Flames. Fourteen pretty solid games in a row for a Calgary team that seemed lost before that. Another chance to put another log on the fire and keep a string of solid efforts and standings production momentum in line.
The Flow
The visitors jumped out with a solid first five minutes putting the Flames on their heels and in some trouble early. From there the Flames managed to wrestle back control and took the lead when Jarome Iginla dropped the puck for Rene Bourque who scored his 11th of the season. Iginla’s assist was his 800th point in his career.
The second started much the same way as the first with the Hawks dominating for the stanza’s first seven minutes and erasing a 1-0 Calgary lead to be replaced by a 2-1 Chicago gain. The Flames, much like the first took control again to finish the period and tied the score when David Moss steered his 10th of the season into the cage on a Rene Bourque rebound.
Calgary was the team to beat in the the third, taking the play to the Hawks and out shooting them 12-8 but were foiled by Khabibulin. Through sixty minutes a great hockey game played by two up and coming teams.
Overtime didn’t take much time as a Toews rush early in the extra time resulted in a delayed penalty and a Duncan Keith conversion left the crowd somewhat speechless.
Three Stars
1. Duncan Keith: Game winner, +1 and lead the Hawks in ice time … good enough for me.
2. Rene Bourque: Goal and an assist for one of Darryl Sutter’s many amazing additions this summer. Secondary scoring in a big way for the Flames this season.
3. Nikolai Khabibulin: Flames killer well … kills them again with yet another victory over the Calgary squad.
Big Save
Two amazing saves in this one stick out above all others. Khabibulin turning back Todd Bertuzzi on a great set up by call up Jamie Lundmark. Bertuzzi might have scored had he got the puck up a little more but a solid save. … In the second Kiprusoff was at his best when he reacted quickly to a Johnathan Toews deflection chance on a Chicago point shot that defied logic.
Big Hit
Todd Bertuzzi hasn’t used his size enough this season, but did exactly that when he through his frame into Craig Adams in the Hawks zone rattling the glass and getting noticed in a game that didn’t have that many bone rattlers.
The Goat
No real goat in this game as both teams played well, but once again the Flames powerplay squad struggled losing the special teams battle to the Hawks in a tight game where a key extra man goal would have meant two points.
Mr. Clutch
Only one assist for the captain, but the man is back, one of his best home performances of the season, or at least since October when I can only guess that he sustained the injury that has held him back. Shots that count all night, and he’s starting to win those board battles again.
Odds and Ends
The Hawks are a young quick team, but the Flames didn’t look out of place at all in the speed merchant category. Calgary’s D handled the rush quite well, and Matthew Lombardi stood out as the quickest player in the game. When he plays with that much jump he creates offence even if he isn’t finding his linemates often. … Still wondering why Dustin Boyd has to center the fourth line with a hole on the second line created by the Curtin Glencross injury. I’m as happy to see Jamie Lundmark do well as anyone, but I think Boyd deserves the ice more. … For ten minutes in the first period Keenan mixed up his defense pairings by playing Adam Pardy with Phaneuf and Sarich with Giordano. He went back to the formula in the second. … The Flames need to think out side the box on the powerplay. Clearly the book on them is to pressure the puck possessor at all times, a tactic that has certainly worked leading to turnovers. The only way to defeat that tactic is to move the puck faster and more efficiently, something the Flames have failed to do. Do they have the personnel to move the puck with authority? It seems that most of the Flames PP guys are puck holders and puck protectors, something that feeds right into the hands of the attacking defender. Maybe it’s time to change up some of the players on both units. … Shout out to Darcy the beer guy for giving my son and his two cousins free ice cream tonight. Good work Darcy and great name! …
Next Up
Some R’n’R with the next game on the schedule not appearing until Tuesday night when the Ducks come a calling. Game time 7pm on Sportsnet.
Lines (To Start):
Cammalleri – Lombardi- Iginla
Bertuzzi – Langkow – Lundmark
Moss – Conroy – Bourque
Nystrom- Boyd- Roy
Phaneuf – Giordano
Regehr – Aucoin
Sarich – Pardy
Kiprusoff
