On The Line
The season. You could say this is pretty much it. If the Flames lose, they would be down by a 3-0 score which history would suggest is virtually insurmountable. This is a bad position to be in, but tonight for the 1st time you should see the Flames play with a full 60 minute urgency. If you don’t see that, then this team has something seriously wrong with it. Something would have to change. For the Blackhawks who are on top of the world right now, a win would give them a stranglehold on the series and more confidence than they would know what to do with. A loss for them, they would still be in a good position but the series momentum would strongly favour Calgary going into game 4.
The Flow
Bad start for Calgary. Who else had flashbacks to game 3 against San Jose last year? Calgary started the game too tight and gave up 2 quality scoring chances in the 1st minute of play. Olli Jokinen then took an asinine roughing penalty at 1:54, and Chicago wasted only 8 seconds before netting a powerplay tally off the stick of Patrick Sharp. The ice was still wet and the dome crowd had already acquired a very sinking feeling. The Flames then took a too many men on the ice penalty right after, and things were looking bleak. Credit to the Flames PK for a great kill, which gave them some jump and led to the tieing goal. Eric Nystrom took a Curtis Glencross pass and sniped a wrist shot from the right wing over the glove of Khabibulin at 6:40 restoring the energy in the dome that was lost just a few minutes earlier. Both teams had a few more chances, but Kiprusoff and Khabibulin kept the score knotted at one goal each heading to the 1st intermission. Shots were 9-8 Chicago.
The 2nd period was fairly even, but frustrations were high for the Flames and their fans when Calgary went nothing for two on back-to-back powerplays that saw very little action generated in Chicago territory. But at 17:07, Calgary found their first bit of luck in the entire series when a Rene Bourque centering attempt hit Khabibulin’s right skate which pushed the puck in to the net. Credit to Olli Jokinen who drew an assist on the play for his hard forecheck which led to the big goal. The Flames kept their 2-1 lead going to the 3rd period. At the end of the period Dion Phaneuf got away with a high-stick on Troy Brouwer that drew blood, and would have led to a 4 minute kill to start the 3rd had it not been for the inconsistent officials, who both happened to be looking elsewhere.
During the intermission all the talk on TSN was about the Flames inability to hold a lead, and rightly so. Games 1 and 2 were bad collapses, but the Flames showed early in the 3rd they learned from those mistakes. Some early jump generated some chances, but more importantly kept Chicago from gaining any flow or momentum. Just 1:18 in to the frame, the pride of Bonavista Newfoundland – Adam Pardy made a great rush with the puck and fired it on net with David Moss pouncing on the rebound giving the Flames a relieving insurance goal making the score 3-1. Did they let up there? Not a chance, Moss added his 2nd of the game and 3rd of the post-season when a Curtis Glencross shot deflected off Moss’ skate and behind a suddenly beatable Khabibulin. Chicago had their chances with 3 straight powerplays after that but were unable to convert until Martin Havlat would add a late, fairly meaningless goal. Then came the rough housing. The last minute of the period saw 68 minutes in penalties handed out between the two teams, with some certain league review to follow. Bottom line? Flames win 4-2, and we have a whole new series on our hands.
Three Stars
1. David Moss: Massive 2 goals in the 3rd period, including the game winner. What a player.
2. Olli Jokinen: 1 assist but may have been the Flames best all around player. Blocked shots, forechecked with tenacity, great game from the much maligned Finn.
3. Cory Sarich: Just played a very solid game in a game that required that type of play.
Big Save
With the score tied at 1, the puck was loose in the crease of Mikka Kiprusoff, just behind his right pad. He swiveled around and trapped the rubber under his glove, just before 2 hungry Hawks players converged on it. Not really a save per-say, but very crucial timing and kept it deadlocked.
Big Hit
Rene Bourque on himself. Bourque attempted to nail Seabrook to the boards in the 1st frame, but Seabrook stood firm and Bourque went down hard and had to momentarily leave the game. He only missed a couple shifts, and came back to score the big go-ahead goal in the 2nd period. As an honorable mention, Dion Phaneuf popped Jonothan Toews cork in the 3rd period with the score 4-1. Just sending a message, and it was huge.
The Goat
Nikolai Khabibulin. Good lord that feels good to say. Khabibulin had a bad game against Calgary…finally. You could really only fault him on the Flames 2nd goal, but he could have also saved the 1st and 4th goals…they were getable.
Mr. Clutch
Mikka Kiprusoff for weathering the early Chicago storm. Blackhawks could have been up 3-0 in the 1st 5 minutes, but only had the 1 goal lead as a result of Mikka’s magnificence.
Odds and Ends
Very glad I have tickets to game 4, the atmosphere should be amazing given how this one ended. Chicago sure is becoming one of the more hateable teams. You could tell Pierre McGuire was a little disturbed by some of the things the Hawks players said to Iginla…would love to hear some of them. Iginla looked incensed. Loved the crowd yelling the words “SEE” (Sea, the letter C – whichever) and “RED” during the US anthem. Really came through well on TV. Not sure if it had to do with where the microphones were positioned, but it sounded like most of the building was involved. Maybe someone who went to the game can shed a little light on that? Anyways, it was great to hear. I had never thought of the “SEE” part before. Shots were 38-28 in favour of Chicago. Adam Pardy had a great game. Rene Bourque had 1 goal, 5 shots, and 18 penalty minutes. Doesn’t seem to like his former teammates very much. Odd stat of the night: All 3 games this series the team that scored first went on to lose the game. Will be very interesting to see what sort of discipline, if any, follows this game. Eager, Bolland, Burish, Bourque and Glencross all recieved 10 minute misconducts in the final minute of play.
Next Up
Game 4 is Wednesday night at the Pengrowth Saddledome. 8:00 PM start on TSN. Should be fun!
Lines (To Start):
Bourque – Conroy – Iginla
Cammalleri – Langkow – Bertuzzi
Glencross – Jokinen – Moss
Nystrom – Boyd – Peters
Leopold – Phaneuf
Sarich – Aucoin
Vandermeer – Pardy
