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Flames
Not Rewarded In Motown
Gutsy
Effort Doesn't Show on
Scoreboard
December 1st, 2002
D'Arcy McGrath
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AP Photo |
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Out of Touch: Jarome
Iginla foiled on a first period breakaway.
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A return to defence.
A return to close low scoring hockey.
And a return, or a stay the course, on
the eventual outcome.
A loss in Detroit on Sunday night.
The Flames did a whole lot more right
in Joe Louis Arena then they've managed to do right in their past three
games.
They had a solid forecheck, leading to
numerous Wing bobbles and good chances.
They out chanced the Wings for the most
part of the game.
Take away the Flames woeful 10 losses
in 11 games slide and a lot of positives could be taken away from an
effort like the one put on display tonight.
Play that same game each and every
night and the team would win it's share of games.Â
But with the need to win paramount it
simply wasn't enough.
The Wings opened the scoring, when
Shanahan fired a low shot through both Toni Lydman and Roman Turek's
legs on a Wing powerplay.
The goal was typical of Flame luck of
late as the shot wasn't a quality chance per say, but found it's way to
the back of the net.
Less than a minute later the Flames
looked to tie the score when Jarome Iginla intercepted a pass and went
in alone on Curtis Joseph. Iginla, usually a demon on breaks, looked
lost on the play, stuck between the shot and deke option, and did little
but tuck the puck harmlessly into Josephs' pads.
The shot tally for the first period
read Calgary 10 and Detroit seven.
The Flames carried the play for the
first 13 minutes of the second period as well, but just couldn't solve
Joseph - at one point holding a 8-1 margin in shots on goal.
Finally, captain Craig Conroy jumped on
a rebound and fired a shot past Joseph to tie the score.
The knot didn't last.
Less than a minute later the Wings
jumped on a fortuitous bounce and went back up by a score of 2-1. On the
play, newly acquired Jason Wooley fired a shot from the point that
deflected off of a shot blocking Stephane Yelle wide of the Calgary
cage. The puck bounced wildly off the boards, through Roman Turek's legs
and right out to Detroit's Henrik Zetterberg, who didn't miss.
The third period started well for
Calgary, with a few good chances on net.
The Wings however, struck for the
period's most important goal, putting the home side up two with less
than ten minutes left when Sean Avery jumped on an errant Calgary pass
and went in alone, scoring his first of the season.
The Flames moved back to within one
goal when Jarome Ignila scored a powerplay goal with just under 90
seconds left to play.
The Flamed didn't threaten again and
were sent home with yet another loss when Sergei Fedorov hit the empty
net to salt things away.
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