|
 Savard-less
Flames Come up Empty In Music City
D'Arcy
McGrath
October
11th, 2001
Goal scoring was bound to be a tough task
for the Calgary Flames this season.
The off season shedding of Val Bure,
coupled with a March 2000 deadline dealing of Cory Stillman put the
offensive onus for the 2001-02 season on very few shoulders.
One of those sets of shoulders, those
belonging to Marc Savard, were missing from action, after the team's
number one pivot suffered a knee injury in Detroit the previous evening.
Predictably, the depleted Flames came up
empty, dropping a hard fought 1-0 contest to the Nashville Predators.
The game saw the season debut of Mike
Vernon, coming off a training camp with little action due to an illness
in his family.
The Predators opened and closed the
scoring in the first period on powerplay. With Craig Berube in the box
for roughing, Vladimir Orszagh deflected a shot from winger Denis
Arkipov past a startled Mike Vernon.
The Flames were on the ropes for the
majority of the first period due in part to an aggressive, young
Predator team, and the fact that the Flames played a night earlier in
Detroit.
The second and third periods swung back
to the Calgary side with Mike Dunham standing between the Flames and
some valuable road points against a conference rival.
The loss moves the Flames overall record
to 3-1-0-1, and their road record to an even 1-1-0-0 in the early
season.
Up next the Flames will battle the Dallas
Stars on Saturday to complete the team's three game road trip.
There still is no word on the status of
center Marc Savard's damaged right knee.
As the scoreboard of this game would
indicate, the Flames can ill afford to lose the wily pivot's
contribution for too long a period.
| 
Nashville Predators 1 Calgary Flames 0 
