Flames Officially Dust  

Rick Charlton

April 6th, 2002

Make it official

Six straight non-playoff years became a mathematical certainty last night as the Calgary Flames ended a modest five game undefeated streak with a 3-1 loss in Nashville.

The only bright spot in an otherwise moribund three hour bore fest was Jarome Iginla's NHL leading 49th goal of the season, extending his personal points streak to five games and leaving him with 92 on the season, a ten point bulge on second place Markus Naslund of Vancouver.

Flames drop to 31-32-12-3 on the season, mired in 11th spot in the NHL's Western Conference, seven points behind ninth and tenth place Dallas and Vancouver. Calgary is eight points up on 12th place Minnesota.

The victory was only the third in 17 games for the faltering Predators.

Nashville opened scoring only 1:01 into the game when Vitaly Yachmenev stripped Toni Lydman of the puck behind the Calgary net, passing to a wide open Scott Hartnell who beat Flames starter Roman Turek only 1:01 into the game.

Mike Dunham still had bells ringing in his ears after picking himself up from a goal mouth collision only minutes before - delaying the game a good five minutes - when Iginla snapped a shot through him at 15:20 of the first.

Cement head Nathan Perrot, however, came back the next shift and scored a soft goal from a poor angle on Turek, catching the Flames netminder cheating away from the post at 16:20.

From there it was a grind 'em out kind of game, although the Flames had plenty of opportunities to bring themselves even. In all, Calgary had 10 power play chances to only four for the Predators.

Tomas Vokoun relieved a woozy Dunham in the second period only to be flattened later by his own defenceman Karlis Skrastkins. A visibly shaken Vokoun, with no one else on the bench to bail him out, gamely hung in to the end of the second period then was strong enough in the third to carry the Predators to victory.

Former Flame Steve Dubinsky finished things off for Nashville with an empty net goal in the final minute.

If there were any doubts that Iginla's 50th goal is becoming a team effort you need look no further than the incredible 28:05 in ice time logged by the Flames winger in this one.

Flames outshot the Predators 32-24 in front of 15,361 fans at the Gaylord Entertainment Center.

 

Scoreboard
	Nashville Predators	3
	Calgary Flames	1

Box Score

FLAMES LINES

OUR THREE STARS

1 Scott Hartnell - Nashville buzz had a goal, four shots and stood up for a teammate when he fought Robyn Regehr. 

2 Derek Morris - too late now but his play has picked up significantly in the last few weeks. 

3 Tomas Vokoun - Flames cranked it up after he came in but surrendered nothing in spite of being hurt.

HIT OF THE GAME

Robyn Regehr flattened Greg Johnson in the second period, causing Hartnell to jump him. The ensuing fight was fairly one sided in Regehr's favour.

SAVE OF THE GAME

Vokoun closed his legs quickly on a Jarome Iginla one timer off an Igor Kravchuk pass, depriving the Flames winger his 50th goal on a power play mid-way through the third period.

NOTES & STATS

Ronald Petrovicky missed the game, flying back to Calgary just in time for the birth of a son via wife Ashley. . . . . . . . .Mike Vernon got into the game for :58 seconds in a tactical delaying move by Coach Greg Gilbert late in the third period. . . . . . .Regehr has stepped up his play of late and led the Flames with five hits on the night. Denis Arkhipov led the Predators with four hits . . . . . . . . Craig Conroy was an incredible 76% in the faceoff circle, leading the Flames who were a collective 55% on the night. Greg Classen was 55% for the Predators. . . . . . . . It was a rare negative night for the Iginla/Conroy/McAmmond line, each a minus two on the evening.