Calgary Flames 1 Edmonton Oilers  0

Flames Off On Right Foot

D'Arcy McGrath

October 03, 2001

"All Out ... Every Shift"

Pretty much.

You can't blame the Flames for not following through on a marketing campaign.

In fact the Flames were pretty much everything as advertised in their initial offering of the 2001-02 season. 

Improved defence ... check.

Improved goaltending ... check.

Improved specialty teams ... well on one side of the ledger, definitely,  check.

Anemic offence ... check.

Better result ... the bottom line.

The drastically altered Calgary Flames put in a great debut performance on Wednesday night, turning back the Edmonton Oilers 1-0.

Winning the first game of the season is foreign to the Calgary Flames, taking that first game against their provincial rivals is just that much sweeter.

A battle of goaltenders and special teams dominated play through out the contest, but the scoreless tie was finally broken midway through the third period.

With the Flames on a powerplay, Derek Morris directed a hard shot at the net. As the powerplay expired Marc Savard collected the rebound and beat a sprawling Tommy Salo to give the Flames the game's only goal.

The rest of the story was Roman Turek and the penalty killers.

"The opposing shooters don't have much to see, he takes up much of the net", noted Robyn Regehr.

Turek was especially sound in the second period when the Oilers took the play to the Flames for the majority of the twenty minutes. The period shots registred seven apiece, but the best chances went to the Northern Albertan squad.

The Oilers middle frame was an answer back to the first period which featured the Flames carrying the play and the chances.

Overall the Oilers came up empty on nine different odd man advantages. The Flames were short handed often due to Oiler team speed and some questionable discipline on the Flames side.

Both Bob Boughner and Ron Petrovicky were fingered twice, giving the Oilers chance after chance.

Solid positional play and eye popping goaltending by Roman Turek proved the difference in shutting the Oilers down.

Five on five the Flames limited the Oilers to less than ten shots, showing some solid positional play.  

Why They Won?

A combination of elevated play from the Flames young defence, especially Robyn Regehr and Derek Morris, added to one of the better goaltending displays in recent memory at the Saddledome.

Credit also goes to the Flames penalty killing group that kept the Oilers to the outside.

OUR STARS

1. Roman Turek - All world goaltending for the large statured stopper. 

2. Tommy Salo - Was a first star on most nights, but over-shadowed by Turek in this one.

3. Marc Savard - Centered the Flames top line, scored the games only goal - the game winner. 

HIT OF THE GAME

Clean hit of the game? Jason Smith on Rob Niedermayer in the first period. Dirty hit of the night? Chris Clark on Jochen Hecht also in the first period. A call that had him in the box for two since he stuck out his knee.

The Flames took 61% of the face-offs on the night, a key to good defence. Marc Savard took 83% of his draws, while Craig Conroy was successful on 80% of his attempts. ... The Flames out hit the Oilers 33 to 30 on the night. Regehr led the way with six, Morris and Gauthier had five each. Jason Smith of the Oilers had the game high with seven. ... Derek Morris led all Flames with ice time at 25:12, while Janne Niinimaa played a surreal 32:59 for the Oilers.

Jeff Cowan took Chuck Kobasew's spot on the second line with Rob Niedermayer and Dean McAmmond, and didn't look out of place. The line came up empty, but had some good chances. ... Roman Turek moved out of last place in Flames history for shutouts, notching his first in .. of course his first game. ... The Flames hinted that special teams were key this year, on this night they lived up to that billing. The Flames killed all nine Oiler chances, while scoring an even strength goal just as one of their six chances expired. ... Calgary out shot the Oilers 28 to 24 on the night. ... The night featured two scraps; Jeff Cowan pounded out an unanimous decision over Steve Staios. The fight had a gentlemanly beginning with Cowan allowing Staios to free his feet from a fallen stick before feeding him lefts and right. Later in the period Craig Berube and Jason Smith fought to a draw.