If it was, his Flames didn't do Vernon any favours last night in a 2-0 loss to the Sharks in San Jose, a defeat which dropped Calgary to 22-22-8-2 on the year and snapped a very modest two game winning streak.
Calgary GM Craig Button has been tight-lipped on the subject, but Vernon's agent Larry Kelly confirmed in the Calgary Herald that Vernon had indeed passed through waivers in the last few days. That increased speculation that Vernon's second stint in Calgary is coming to an end.
His fine play last night, stopping 24 of 26 shots, most of them difficult, might actually hasten his departure as we near the decisive moments in the 2001-2002 playoff race. No doubt there are going to be Cup bound teams looking to fortify their goaltending with a veteran presence and Vernon would seem to fit that need.
Vernon is now 19-3-3 lifetime against San Jose.
The intrigue swirling around Vernon almost made us forget that this was the first game as a non-captain for Dave Lowry, who was paired with one of his replacements, Craig Conroy and logged 16:47 of ice time, about double his normal allotment. Lowry had no shots, one hit and was a minus one on the evening, although not at fault on the goal against.
The Sharks spent much of the evening engaging in a clinical dissection of the Flames and only the fine work of Vernon kept this one from becoming a blowout through 40 minutes. The Flames finally found their sea legs in the third but Evgeny Nabokov, he of no country for the upcoming Olympics, turned in a workmanlike performance, stopping 27 shots for his sixth shutout of the season.
"We just did everything right tonight," said Nabokov. "The whole team played a good game. It was 2-0 in the first period, and 2-0 we win the game. There you go."
Matt Bradley and Adam Graves gave the Sharks a 2-0 lead after the opening 20 minutes, allowing San Jose to go into cruise control from there. The Sharks are 17-1-2 this year when leading after the first period.
Calgary is now lodged firmly in 11th place in the NHL's Western Conference, five points behind eighth place Los Angeles for the final playoff spot.
Last night marked the eighth time this season the Flames have put up an offensive goose egg, including the third time in the last five games. The Flames have given up only 11 goals in their last five starts, or 2.2 per game, but have won only twice as they continue to be hurt by an anemic offence.
But the Flames didn't put on a defensive clinic in this one, Denis Gauthier and Petr Buzek in particular having very tough games. Gauthier was beaten outside on the opening goal by a charging Bradley, who was allowed to streak across Vernon's crease unmolested before stuffing the puck under the Calgary netminder only 3:36 into the game. Graves added another goal at 15:13 when Buzek stood idly by as the former Ranger whipped a backhand past Vernon.
For the most part San Jose was allowed to do pretty much what they wanted, leaving Vernon to hold the fort on two Teemu Selanne breakaways and numerous other chances.
The Flames did have their moments, but they were few and far between with Nabokov on hand to stifle any hope the visitors might have had. Jarome Iginla had a memorable close in opportunity that might have tied the game midway through the first period, but a quick whistle by referee Dave Jackson with the puck still skittering free quickly dashed a potential goal.
Calgary's penalty killing continues to improve, the Flames holding off the Sharks on a two man advantage in the first and leaving the Sharks zero for four on the night. Calgary's powerplay, which had shown life of late, had only two opportunities on the evening.
The next four games could make or break Calgary's season, a home and home with Vancouver followed by Anaheim and Phoenix on the road. Win those and the Flames are back in the hunt. Lose them all and it could well be lights out for a sixth consecutive year.
Attendance was 17,383.
Â
Â
