Roman Turek remains
the quintessential
riddle wrapped in an
enigma.
Publicly blamed a
week ago by GM Craig
Button as the central
reason for the Flames
floperoo of a season,
Turek effectively stood
on his head with a 38
save performance in
Dallas last night, the
single biggest reason
Calgary came away with a
1-1 tie.
Although surrendering
the tying goal with less
than five minutes
remaining to Scott
Young, Turek was the
difference the Flames
had been counting on for
much of this season
against the NHL's best
team.
The single point
earned by the Flames
temporarily halted their
drive for the bottom of
the standings and the
number one pick overall
in next summer's NHL
draft, Calgary now
18-29-10-4 on the season
for 50 points and dead
last in the Western
Conference.
Calgary hasn't won in
six games, 0-4-2 in that
span and now two points
divorced from idle 14th
place Columbus in the
West.
Flames are 15 points
out of the playoffs.
Calgary is also two
points up on Atlanta and
four points ahead of
Buffalo in the Toilet
Bowl race for last
overall in the NHL, an
ignomious prize that
carries some benefits
given the winner is
likely to select first
overall in the coming
draft.
Flames dominated the
first period and took an
early lead on Oleg
Saprykin's fifth of the
season, a power play
goal as the youngster
drove to the front of
the net and pumped a
shot through the pads of
Dallas starter Ron
Tugnutt at 4:45.
It was the sixth
straight game the Flames
have scored a power play
goal.
Craig Conroy hit the
post/crossbar later in
the period but the
second frame saw Dallas
gradually take over the
contest, inspired
perhaps by a
controversial penalty
call when Flames
defenceman Bob Boughner
was booted from the
contest after hitting
Stars forward Mike
Modano hard from behind
into the boards.
|
2003
Draft Watch |
|
If
the draft was held
today ... |
|
Pick
|
Team
|
Player*
|
| 1 |
Buffalo |
Nikolai
Zherdev |
| 2 |
Atlanta |
Marc
Andre Fleury |
| 3 |
Carolina |
Eric
Stall |
| 4 |
Calgary |
Nathan
Horton |
| 5 |
Columbus |
Milan
Michalek |
| *ranking:
McKeen's
2/13/03 |
|
Boughner was
immediately jumped by
Bill Guerin with the
Dallas forward given a
ten minute misconduct.
With Turek standing
tall on numerous
close-in opportunities
and deflections it
wasn't until 15:50 of
the third that Modano
bounced a pass to the
blueline where Young
one-timed a hopper
through the pads of the
Flames netminder.
"They had us
back on our heels there
a little bit,"
admitted Jordan Leopold
after the game. "We
stuck with it and Large
was great in the net and
that's what we needed
from him."
Leopold continued his
strange love/hate
relationship with coach
Sutter, the rookie
defenceman the primary
beneficiary of
Boughner's ejection,
finishing the game with
27:42 in ice time to
lead the Flames.
Leopold's ice time
under Sutter the last
few weeks has had more
highs and lows than the
Dallas Six Flags roller
coaster.
The Boughner ejection
was made all the more
galling since the same
crime was committed only
minutes later by Stars
Darien Hatcher on Flames
Blake Sloan but drew
only a minor penalty.
Stephane Yelle nearly
won the game only
minutes after Young's
marker, breaking in free
on Tugnutt on a fine
Jarome Iginla pass but
hitting the post on a
backhand.
Shots were 39-27 in
favour of Dallas.
Next up is Nashville,
a game the Flames must
win to ... too
late. Way too late. The
fat lady has already
sung and hung up her
horns on this season.
The only thing left to
do is sweep up the
popcorn.
Get
Your
Calgarypuck
Gear!
Â
