Toronto 8 Calgary 6
The mammoth road-trip wraps up at the Air Canada center tonight, and after this the schedule gets a little easier for our boys…
But for now, an inter-conference game against another mediocre team offers the Flames a chance for a reset after they lost similarly winnable games in Atlanta and Raleigh. However, a slow start would haunt the Flames down the stretch in this one, as the three-goal cushion they spotted the Leafs in the early going proved to be just enough to ensure that Toronto could hang on for the win in a crazy shootout with bad bounces and bad goals on both sides of the ice. Calgary rallied to tie the game, but never led in this forgettable affair in which the Flames’ recent defensive woes continued with a vengeance. Calgary would draw close on a late goal from Olli Jokinen, but an empty-netter would seal the deal for Toronto, sending the boys home desperately in need of a strong finish to close out the season.
On The Line
At this point in the season, it’s hard to imagine a single game having a profound impact on the Flames’ place in the standings. But Vancouver has been hot of late, and a tradition of April disappointments has made nervous nellies of us all; it’s probably fair to say that a win tonight would have helped Calgary’s fans sleep just a little better tonight. Perhaps more critically, the optics of coming home with a winning record on this road trip could have been a huge boost to a team that–dare I say it–has looked a little fragile on this road trip.
The Flow
The first period began like this: “We apologize, but we are having difficulties with the program source.” Soon after my issues with the feed were resolved, there followed a profoundly weird series of events. First, Jeff Finger opened the scoring on a crazy carom that glanced off the elbow of Robyn Regehr. After that, a quick but uneventful scrap between Andre Roy and Phil Oreskovic failed to turn the tide, and a double-minor against Daymond Langkow led to two quick power-play tallies from Jason Blake and Alexei Ponikarovsky. Suddenly the visitors found themselves on the business end of a 3-0 deficit, in spite of not having been territorially dominated. Olli Jokinen would reply with a powerplay tally of his own with 8 minutes left in the frame. Then, on a howitzer from the point, Dion Phaneuf would add a powerplay goal of his own and suddenly what looked to be a complete debacle had turned into something resembling a hockey game. Then it was Calgary’s turn to enjoy a crazy carom off the skate of Ben Ondrus, and this decidedly weird period ended in a 3-3 tie. On balance, Calgary was probably the better team in the first; however, results are what matters, and in this case the result was a reset and a 40-minute hockey game.
In the second, Jeff Hamilton would regain the lead for Toronto on a broken play off a rebound in front of the net, capitalizing on some less-than-sharp defensive play from the boys in white. More end-to-end action culminated in another goal from youngster Jeff Mitchell, who beat Kiprusoff to the far post. Olli Jokinen would draw the Flames to within one one a dumbfounding end-to-end rush that left the home-town crowd drooling and illiterate. Jokinen flipped the puck into the air overtop of the hapless defenders, and batted the floating puck into the net over a frozen Martin Gerber. Whereas in the First period the Flames were perhaps unfortunate to be tied, we may say that in the second they were fortunate to be down only one goal in a game that could easily have been a laugher.
In the third, Grabovsky would regain the 2-goal margin for the leafs, and that spelled the end of Kiprusoff’s night–a tough one, with some goals where he had no chance and a handful of others that he should probably have had. Then things got even uglier; Luke Schenn’s rocket from the point deflected twice off Stajan and Jamaal Mayers to restore Toronto’s 3-goal cushion from the first period, making their gutsy comeback all for naught. To be honest, both teams looked like they deserved to be playing a in a 7-4 game, as the end-to-end action continued with poor puck management on both sides. Calgary would finally capitalize on a nice give-and-go between Jokinen and Iginla, with the captain bulging the twine for the 31st time this season. Then, with 2:19 to go, Olli Jokinen would complete his first hat-trick as a Flame, converting on a “slap-pass” from Adrian Aucoin, leading to the game’s dramatic finish. Mikhail Grabovski would add a hat-trick goal of his own, and that would be all she wrote in this admittedly wild but ultimately forgettable game.
Three Stars
- Olli Jokinen: It’s hard to give the first star to the team that lost, but Jokinen has been absolutely on fire of late. Tonight, his first hat-trick as a Flame rounded out a five-point night for the easy-to-draw Finn, who has 8 goals in six games since the trade. More to the point: Jokinen came very close to single-handedly winning this game for Calgary. That his five points weren’t enough is just a testament to how badly the rest of the team played.
- Mikhail Grabovsky: A hat-trick for the young Maple Leaf caps a night where the Russian saw nearly 16 minutes of ice, recorded a +3 and just 3 shots on goal. 100% is never a bad shooting percentage.
- Jamaal Mayers: Mayers is a Sutter-type player; easily the most physical Maple Leaf, Mayers notched a goal at a key moment in the second and was a pain in the neck for Calgary’s defense all night long on the forecheck.
Big Save
With his team leading by 2, Martin Gerber came out almost to the hash-marks to challenge a streaking Michael Cammalleri, who had nowhere to shoot but into the crest of the Toronto net-minder. Not an athletic save, but one that…. showed good positioning? Sorry, not much in the way of “saves” in this game. Pretty well anything that could go in did.
Big Hit
Luke Schenn may well have looked up and seen a brief glimpse of the whites of Dion Phaneuf’s eyes before the rangy defender tagged him in the neutral zone midway through the second. Not the kind of hit that sends players to the dressing room, but the kind that rattles the bones a smidgen. In the end, Calgary could have used a few more of those on a night where they were clearly the less well-rested team. Honourable mention goes to Jamaal Mayers’ hit on Jim Vandermeer after the Leafs had taken the lead.
The Goat
Penalty killing. You never like to see a double minor for high-sticking in the first period, but the PK needs to be more resilient early. Toronto scored twice in less time than it takes to get up for a beer, and that just isn’t good for the old blood pressure. Given that the Power play was clicking, Calgary had the opportunity to come out of the first with a nice lead, but instead they let Toronto off the hook early, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Mr. Clutch
A different outcome would have led to a different name in this category (I won’t say who–but it rhymes with “Poke-it-in”). However, as things stand I’m giving this honour to Warren Peters for his second-period fight with Ben Ondrus, in which the fourth-liner did his darnedest to create some momentum with a spirited bout that left Ondrus bleeding and humbled. After that, the Flames looked a little more charged up for a few minutes, and after the fight Calgary did outscore the Leafs 3-2 (not counting Grabovsky’s empty-netter).
Odds and Ends
This is the kind of game that has you reaching for silver linings… but boy did the Glencross-Jokinen-Iginla trio look dangerous all night long, the kind of unit that could produce clutch goals in the playoffs if Keenan leaves them together… Calgary has let in 8 goals twice in the last two weeks, and that I think tells the story of this recent skid: defense. The bottom line is that if you score 6 goals you should be able to win, and Calgary sometimes looks like a team that depends on their talented line-up to keep them in games where they aren’t mentally sharp… In their defense, the Flames also looked like a team desperately in need of a rest… and on that note the three-day layoff before Wednesday’s tilt against Dallas should give the team a chance to recharge and to regain their defensive focus… All in all, I’d rather a slump now than 14 games from now, but this is the moment where Mike Keenan, who has been blessed with a pretty talented line-up, can show his mettle and his motivational ability, in getting the team to refocus on the fundamentals that saw them so successful through the middle part of the season… I liked the looks of Warren Peters tonight–a great fight, and a player who looked ready to play in the NHL. My guess is this is the last season that he starts on the farm… This team really misses Rene Bourque and Todd Bertuzzi. Nowhere was this more evident than in the last 2 minutes, when for lack of a bonafide second line, Mike Keenan left his top unit of Jokinen, Iginla, Cammalleri (and Glencross as the extra attacker) out on the ice for nearly three minutes. This line had been dominant all night, but these guys played 24 minutes tonight–nearly half the game. It’s little wonder that they had nothing left in the tank in the last three minutes of a track meet of a game, in the last match of a marathon road trip.
Next Up
The Dallas Stars roll into town on Wednesday evening. A 7:00 start, with the broadcast crew at TSN doing the honours.
Lines (To Start):
Glencross – Jokinen – Iginla
Cammalleri – Langkow – Moss
Lundmark – Conroy – Boyd
Roy – Peters – Nystrom
Phaneuf – Leopold
Vandermeer – Sarich
Aucoin – Regehr
