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December
19th, 2002
D'Arcy McGrath
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AP Photo |
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Shut Out II: Flames
follow up a 3-0 win with a 3-0 loss.
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One
step forward, one step
back.
Two
steps forward, two steps
back.
Not
a bad plan from the
outset of a seasonÂ
if you're a club that's
missed the playoffs for
six straight seasons.
Play
.500 hockey over the
bulk of a hockey
campaign, and you just
might find that late
surge to spring into the
playoffs.
It
does little however, for
a club that took one
step forward and 11
steps back in the month
of November. Win one,
lose one hockey just
won't cut the mustard.
The
Flames rolled into
Columbus on somewhat of
a buoyant streak. They
had just completed two
strong efforts; a tie in
Vancouver and a shut out
victory in Nashville,
and were looking to turn
a good road start into a
good road trip.
The
Blue Jackets had other
ideas.
A
despicable second period
turned a tight game into
a Jacket romp as the
Columbus entry skated to
a 3-0 victory on home
ice on Thursday.
The
Jackets opened the
scoring in the first
period when 28 year old
Finish rookie Lasse
Pirjeta scored his first
of two goals on the
night, pushing the 7th
round pick to four on
the season.
In
the second the Jackets
added two more goals,
Tomi Kallio with a weak
one from the slot, and
Pirjeta on a powerplay
to salt things away.
The
Jackets enjoyed a 14 to
6 shot margin in the
period.
The
third period featured a
significant boost in
play for the Flames, as
they out shot the
Jackets by a 12-3
margin, but came up
empty in the goal
department.
The
game marked a relatively
insignificant return for
sputtering star Jarome
Iginla. The big winger
had three shots on goal,
but failed to reach the
score sheet.
The
loss moves the Flames
overall record back to
six games under .500 at
9-16-5-3, just three
points ahead of the
Nashville Predators for
the western
cellar.Â
The
club's record in
December sits at 3-4-3.
The
Flames continued a very
common theme this season
as once again their
special teams were
anything but special,
coming out on the short
end of the head to head
battle for 18th time in
33 games this season.
The Blue Jackets only
scored once on their
powerplay, but they did
so with only four
chances, compared to a
Flame group that came up
empty on six chances.
Teams
like Calgary simply
can't win in this league
when they give up at
least one, and often two
goals when the clubs
aren't playing five
aside.
Add
in inconsistent
goaltending, and some
seriously stalled
seasons from the team's
best players and it
won't require a whole
lot of head scratching
to understand why the
team sits near the
bottom of league
standings.
Oh
... and they don't have
a coach. I wonder how
that's going?
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