All Aboard!

Bandwagon Departs BC With Win

October 14th, 2002
D'Arcy McGrath

Tape them ankles, pull the Flames banner out of the trash, and get back on that bandwagon, the Flames have won a hockey game.

AP Photo
Take That: Flames extract revenge for opening night.

With the club sitting at 0-2-0, and staring down the Vancouver Canucks - the author of their first setback - many a Calgary fan appeared to have all but written their club off a mere 1/41st of the way through the season.

They may take pause after Monday night's come from behind 3-2 victory over the Canucks.

They did the trick using many of the new game elements that had the city intriqued with the season around the corner.

They had balanced scoring.

They had team speed.

They blocked shots/

They had an aggressive penalty kill.

A scoreless first period followed by two quick Canuck goals looked to have the guys in white (I hate it when third jerseys come into it), on the ropes.

The Canucks opened the scoring on a powerplay stretching from the first period. Off the faceoff Vancouver defender Ed Jovanovski slid a harmless shot from the point towards the Calgary goal. The rebound bounced to Brendan Morrison who directed the puck at the net. Roman Turek placed his stick on it, but the persistent Morrison flipped it over the fallen goaltenders lumber for a 1-0 lead.

A few minutes later the Canucks doubled their lead using a strong forecheck to generate mayhem in the Calgary zone. Daniel Sedin, showing his 20 lbs. of new found muscle, brought the puck out of a scrum, circled the net and passed the puck to linemate Trent Klatt. The puck slid past Klatt but onto the blade of defenceman Brent Sopel who ripped home the Canucks' second of the night.

The Flames didn't give up.

Chance after un-rewarded chance finally led to some Flames fortune when the Craig Conroy, Jarome Iginla, Martin Gelinas line worked the boards well leading to a Craig Conroy bunt past a startled Dan Cloutier.

Then, less than a minute later the Flames were back again, this time with Micki Dupont doing the honours, with his first NHL goal from the point.

From there the Flames took the game away, pressing the Canucks into their own zone and dominating play on the wall.

The Flames top line, down graded in skill perhaps with Martin Gelinas taking the place of Chris Drury, won the battle of the top lines hands down keeping Naslund, Bertuzzi and Morrison hemmed in their own zone.

After killing of two key third period penalties the Flames finally went ahead for good when Chuck Kobasew scored his first career NHL goal. 

Kobasew took a pass at the Canuck blueline, used his frame to shield the puck from the Canuck defender before flipping an off balance shot toward Cloutier. The puck took a funny hop before landing in the net in a heap of players featuring Marc Savard and Ed Jovanovski.

At press time the official scorer had the puck entering the cage off of Jovanovski and not Savard, though that might change.

The win moves the Flames to 1-2-0 on the season, and two points behind the rival Canucks.

The Flames take on Boston on Thursday night at the Saddledome.

  

Scoreboard
Calgary Flames 3
Vancouver Canucks 2

Box Score

FLAMES LINES

Gelinas Conroy Iginla
Savard Drury Kobasew
Wright Yelle Clark
Johansson Nichol Sloan
Lydman Regehr
Boughner Buzek
Gauthier Dupont

OUR THREE STARS

1 Roman Turek - Flame goaltender was solid in to start the game, giving the Flames a chance to get their feet under them.

2 Dan Cloutier - The busier of the two goaltenders, Cloutier kept this one close through the last two thirds of the game.

3 Stephane Yelle - Stephane Yelle was no throw in with Drury in Calgary's big deal two weeks ago. Taking Niedermayer's spot on the third line, Yelle led a solid forecheck all night. Dominant in the face off circle and killing penalties.

SAVE OF THE GAME

Turek and Cloutier made many ... so we'll give timing the nod in this case. With less than a minute to go Roman Turek tossed his frame down low to stop Brent Sopel and preserve the win.

HIT OF THE GAME

On a third period fore check Jarome Iginla raced in on Brent Sopel and hammered him behind the Canuck cage.

NOTES & STATS

Good to see Rob Niedermayer sacrificed from the roster based on the Philly game. His third period was just awful in taking bad penalties and blown defensive coverage. To win the Flames will need to be accountable on the ice, scratching Niedermayer could be a good step towards that end. ... Big Bad Bert? Notice the Flames defencemen stopping short all night when Bertuzzi was chasing them down? Not a good sign when Buzek and Regehr surrender control of the puck to avoid a hit. ... Be honest, take a look at the appearance of Brent Sopel and tell me you'd let him date your sister ... The Flames penalty killing crew were a on a completely different page on Monday night. Gone was the lay back and give up the point shot mentality that saw Philadelphia wrestle away a win on Saturday. Instead the Flames forwards pursued the puck with vigor in all three zone spending way less time in the Flames zone as a result.

 

  Calgarypuck.com
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