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Unlikely
Hero Crowns Kings Â
Niedermayer
Wins It in Overtime
January
18th, 2002
Rick Charlton
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| Saprykin |
Drury |
Iginla |
| Gelinas |
Conroy |
Lowry |
| Niedermayer |
Yelle |
Clark |
| Berube |
Nichol |
Sloan |
| Lydman |
Regehr |
| Boughner |
Gauthier |
| Montador |
Buzek |
|
Rob
Niedermayer, for one
game at least, opened
his toolkit to show
Flames fans every reason
why he was drafted sixth
overall in 1993, ahead
of luminaries such as
Todd Bertuzzi, Jason
Arnott and Adam
Deadmarsh.
Niedermayer
picked up an errant pass
in his own end, rocketed
the length of the
Saddledome ice, shrugged
off the valiant
disruptive effort of
Allison then rifled the
overtime game winner
over the shoulder of
Felix Potvin, the goal
at 2:42 icing a 2-1
Flames win over the LA
Kings last night in
front of 16,675 shocked
fans at the Saddledome.
The
big Calgary winger has
been a perpetual
doghouse denizen since
his acquisition two
summers ago but Darryl
Sutter, in conversation
with HNIC prior to the
game, had identified
Stephane Yelle and, yes,
Niedermayer as the two
players who have
impressed him the most
in the three weeks since
his appointment as
Flames head coach.
Then
again, that might be an
indictment of fellows
like Chris Drury and
Jarome Iginla.
Niedermayer
was a force for much of
the night, bringing a
physical presence as
usual but also adding a
bit of dipsy-doodling
that hasn't been seen on
a regular basis.
Or
at all.
"There
was a lot of open space
(between the LA
defencemen), " said
Niedermayer on FAN960
after the game. "It
was nice to finally put
one by Potvin. He played
a great game
tonight."
The
victory was only the
sixth at home this
season for the Flames
but allowed Calgary to
crawl back into a tie
with Columbus and
Nashville for 13th spot
in the NHL's Western
Conference.
Flames
are eight points in
arrears of Colorado,
currently occupying the
eighth and final playoff
spot in the West. The
Avs, however, have two
games in hand.
Calgary
is now 15-22-7-3 on the
season.
The
Flames hadn't won an
overtime game in almost
a full turn of the
calendar, January 28th
of last year in
Minnesota, and are now
1-3-7 this year in
extra-frame situations
this season.
While
the win is something the
Flames will take with a
smile, a powerplay that
generated only one shot
in its first five
opportunities while
surrendering a
short-handed marker was
a serious wart.
Craig
Conroy opened scoring
only 1:04 into the game,
picking up a Dave Lowry
rebound and depositing
the puck into an open
net behind Potvin.
Roman
Turek had a generally
strong night but the
Kings might have salted
the game away in the
third with two goal
posts, the first from
Ziggy Palffy and then a
brilliant spin-a-rama
move from rookie
Alexander Frolov.
Calgary
finished zero for six on
the night while the
Kings were zero for
three.
Flames
outshot the Kings 27-19.
Calgary
lost left winger Oleg
Saprykin to a knee
injury late in the first
period.
Flames
have collected three of
four possible points on
this five game home
stand which continues
with Edmonton coming up
on Monday night.
Get
Your
Calgarypuck
Gear!
Â
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