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Turek-Less
Flames Tame the Wild
Iginla
Bursts Goal Drought in
Win
October
21st, 2003
D'Arcy McGrath
Break
'em up and they break
loose?
That's
more or less the game
story from Minnesota
where the Calgary Flames
emerged with a 3-2
victory over their
Northwest division rival
Minnesota Wild.
|
| Reinprecht |
Lombardi |
Iginla |
| Saprykin |
Conroy |
Clark |
| Gelinas |
Yelle |
Donovan |
| McAmmond |
Betts |
Kobasew |
| Montador |
Lydman |
| Leopold |
Regehr |
| Gauthier |
Warrener |
|
Busting
loose may appear to be a
huge stretch at first
blush when you gaze at a
scoreboard with five
combined goals, but for
a team with only five
goals in four games
coming in, three
represents somewhat of a
landslide.
What's
more important in this
outcome is who scored
the goals as coach and
general manager's line
switch up seemed to
ignite at least two of
the club's top three
expected point
producers.
Jarome
Iginla, skating on a
line with the club's
story of October,
Matthew Lombardi, picked
up a goal in the second
period and was on the
ice when Lombardi
notched one himself.
Meanwhile
former MCI left winger
Dean McAmmond, skating
on the club's deemed
fourth line which really
amounts to line 3C,
assisted on the game
winner when Chuck
Kobasew managed his
second of the season in
the third period.
The
game acted as a valium
to a club that was
likely wallowing in some
pregame despair when
they learned that their
number one stopper,
Roman Turek, was lost
for as many as four
weeks after suffering a
knee strain on Saturday
night.
Backup
goaltender Jamie
McLennan got the natural
start in his absence,
and while he did see his
shut out string snapped
at just over 100
minutes, he picked up
his third win of the
season - one more than
he achieved all of last
season.
The
game marked the first tangible
appearance by Steve
Reinprecht, with the
center maimed throughout
camp, only seeing a few
minutes of action before
injuring his shoulder
once again in a game in
Edmonton.
He
went coast to coast in
this one, earning 15
minutes of ice time, and
three shots on goal.
Reinprecht skated on the
club's most successful
line which consisted of
slumping star Jarome
Iginla and rookie to
watch Matthew Lombardi.
The trio combined for
five shots and three
scoring points.
Iginla's
goal incidentally, his
first of the season,
came on only one shot.
From
here the Flames come
back home to face the
limping St. Louis Blues
(up 5-3 on the Edmonton
Oilers at the Sky Reach
Center at press time),
before traveling to
Edmonton for a late game
on Saturday night.
The
club moved back above
the .500 mark, sitting
3-2-0 on the season, and
1-1-0 on the road after
dropping their first
game in white at
Vancouver to open the
season.
 
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SCOREBOARD
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| FLAMES |
3 |
| WILD |
2 |
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1)
Matthew
Lombardi -
The club's new
number one
center? For
this night
anyway.
Lombardi was
the man in the
middle and did
the trick in
assisting on
slumping star
Jarome
Iginla's
first, then
popped his
first NHL goal
for good
measure.
2)
Andrei Zyuzin -
Former bolt
was in on both
Wild goals,
matching
Lombardi's
output.
3)
Sean Donovan -
Late season
pickup from
March 2003
continues to
show he's
found a new
home. Had five
shots and went
to the night
on every
single shift
in this one.
The
Flames once
again kept the
opposition to
a limited
amount of shot
on goal as
Minnesota only
managed 20
against Jamie
McLennan on
the night.
They came into
the game with
a 20.5 shots
against
average and
moved that
mark to, well,
20.4 ...
Interesting to
note that
Rhett Warrener
led the club
in ice time
with 24:16, as
Warrener was
the sixth of
six defenceman
in ice time
coming into
the game with
only 17 +
minutes per
night. Other
players that
bested the 20
mark included
Minnesota
native Jordan
Leopold with
23:10, Robyn
Regehr had
22:04, Lydman
with 21:42,
and Jarome
Iginla with
21:17. Game
star Andrei
Zyuzin had
almost 27
minutes for
the Wild. ...
The Wild
scored one
powerplay goal
in five
attempts which
will actually
improve the
Flames penalty
killing rating
on the season.
The Flames
came up empty
but only had
two chances to
show for their
evening. ...
With three
goals on the
night the
Flames goals
per game
average hops
from 1.25 to
1.60 good for
a seven spot
hike in the
overall NHL
grid. The
team's goals
against
average will
hold strong at
2.00. ...
Hopefully
Darryl Sutter
has his eye on
the bottom
line when it
comes to Chuck
Kobasew. The
invisible
winger now has
two goals in
five games
despite being
almost a
phantom on the
ice for large
stretched of
each game. Two
in five
translates to
a cool 32
goals over an
82 game
schedule. ...
Speaking of
kids, one has
to wonder if
it's still the
preseason when
you notice the
team is led by
Matthew
Lombardi in
points with
three,
followed by
Saprykin,
Kobasew and
Blair Betts
all tied with
two points
with a few
other players.
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