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 Surprise
Teams Tie
D'Arcy McGrath
November
15th, 2001
A couple of seasons ago,
serving Flames captain, Steve Smith, uttered some wise words
surrounding the topic of streaks in the National Hockey
League.
The gist of his logic was that
losing streaks start long before the team's first loss and
winning streaks start long before the first win. Bad or good
habits are formed, then the inevitable results come later, in
a nut shell.
At the time the thought was put
forward in order to provide solace in yet another gritty
Flames effort with a less that amicable result, but the words
are no less true today.
Only the shoe in on the other
foot.
The Flames failed to ice their
best game for the fourth straight outing in coming from behind
for a 2-2 tie with the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday night.
However, just like the last
four outings, they managed to find a point in a game they
likely should have lost.
The game started with little
doubt which team had just come off the four day rest, as
Calgary was flat and listless through the opening ten minutes.
Roman Turek turned away many a
Hawk chance before giving up the game's first goal to Ryan
Vandenbussche on a breakaway. On the play, ex-Hawk Jamie
Allison made a poor pinch decision in playing the body and
surrendering a break. Turek went down to cover the angles, but
had the puck chipped over him on a back hand shot.
The Hawks doubled their lead in
the second period when Steve Sullivan took advantage of a
Michael Nylander pick play to circle the net and beat a very
well screened Turek.
As a second period, possibly
worse than the first, was winding down the ever so hot Denis
Gauthier fired a seemingly harmless shot towards the Chicago
cage only to have Jamie Wrigth tip the puck past a startled
Jocelyn Thibeault.Â
After two the score sat 2-1 to
the visitor's favour, a score that greatly flattered the home
side.
The late goal in the second
appeared to give the Hawks the jitters as the third period
started, as the visitors fell into a defensive scheme that saw
them repeatedly ice the puck.
As is often the case with
sitting on the lead, the Flames finally managed to bust
through when Dean McAmmond converted the rebound from a Derek
Morris powerplay point shot past Thibeault as he was falling.
The goal sent the game to
overtime, as well as extending both McAmmond and Jarome
Iginla's point streaks.
Iginla's streak now sits at 12
games.
In overtime both teams had
chances, but nothing of the alarming variety.
The tie moves the Flames to
12-2-2-2 through 18 games on the season.
The Hawks not sit 12-5-4-0.
Both teams have 28 points,
though Chicago has played three additional games.
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Box Score
OUR
THREE STARS
1) Dean McAmmond - Notches game tying
goal with less than four minutes to play.Â
2) Steve Poapst - Utility defender
played a solid game taking the body, plus one on the night.
3)
Derek Morris -
Clearly still favouring his back, Morris returns to action
with an assist and a fight.
HIT
OF THE GAME
Denis Gauthier toppling Michael Nylander along
the boards in the second period.Â
FIGHT
OF THE GAME
For the second straight Flame/Hawk encounter
Mark Bell challenges Derek Morris leading to a fight. Morris
got the better of this one. Two guys that don't like each
other or a wily Bryan Sutter trying to take a skilled player
off the ice for five minutes?Â
NOTES
& STATS
Three
Colorado players,
Rob Blake ($9
million), Joe Sakic
($10 million) and
Patrick Roy ($9
million) make as
much as the entire
Flames roster. . . .
. Flames were
without the services
of Derek Morris who
went down with a
back injury early in
the LA game. . . . .
. Calgary has now
outscored the
opposition 23-8 in
the third period so
far this year. . . .
. . Gauthier, Toni
Lydman and
unheralded Jamie
Wright led the
Flames with three
shots each. . . . .
. Lydman filled in
for Morris, logging
25:35 in ice time
for the Flames.
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Calgary
Flames 2 Chicago Blackhawks 2 
