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Giant
Awakes; Flames SmokedÂ
Detroit
Pounds Five Past
Kiprusoff For WinÂ
April
24th, 2004
D'ARCY
MCGRATH
Just
remember, they got the
split.
The
bumper sticker for the
Calgary Flames playoff
odyssey into Michigan
for the second round of
the 2004 Stanley Cup
Playoff second round.
The
loss, a 5-2 shellacking
by the wired up Detroit
Red Wings will sting a
bit, granted, but in the
end the road team in
this series, the Flames
got the job done and
will bring the series
back to Calgary notched
at a game apiece.
This
one was never that
close.
The
Flames followed the same
script from their game
one 2-1 overtime victory
by giving up too much in
the first period. The
shot total in this
frame, 15-3 for the home
side, though the Flames
did show more life than
in the first stanza of
game one.
The
"TSN" turning
point of the game was an
inadvertent high stick
by Detroit captain Steve
Yzerman on Calgary
defender Rhett Warrener.
The
Flames, without the
services of other top
five blueliners Toni
Lydman and Denis
Gauthier were already
stretched to the max
coming into the series,
but having to play their
7th and 8th defencemen
in the top five for 40
minutes was just too
much to bare.
The
Wings got on the board
early in the second
period when Wing slot
pest Tomas Holmstrom
deftly deflected a point
shot through Miikka
Kiprusoff to put the
homeside on the board.
A
few minutes later the
Wings doubled their lead
when Steve Montador, the
club's 7th defenceman
chased Detroit defender
Mathieu Dandenault
behind the net and fed
the puck out front to
Steve Yzerman who scored
his first of two on the
night. Shean Donovan
appeared to have Yzerman
in his sites, but
followed Montador behind
the net leaving the
dangerous Wing captain
all alone.
The
Wings made it 3-0 when
the Flames bottom half
of their blueline depth
chart was victimized
again by Yzerman, this
time with Mike Commodore
and Andrew Ference
leaving the veteran all
alone.
Down
by three in the league's
most dangerous hostile
ice surface is sure to
result and that was the
case this afternoon,
despite Donovan's quick
one handed deflection to
make it 3-1 a few
minutes later.
The
Flames kept it close in
the third period,
playing a fairly
inconsequential third
frame with neither team
getting a whole lot done
until a Calgary penalty
parade turned the game
into a laugher.
First
Donovan took a slashing
penalty for pounding the
lumber out of Jiri
Fischer's hands. Then
Mike Commodore was
penalized for cross
checking Holmstrom in a
series of stick
infractions that likely
featured three slashes
and 11 cross checks.
Brett
Hull put the Wings up
4-1 when he scored with
the Flames down two men
on a one timer through
Kiprusoff's legs.
Seconds
later Robyn Regehr was
banished for a similar
stick assault to
Commdore's exploits, and
soon after Brendan
Shanahan deflected a
point shot over
Kiprusoff's shoulder to
put it way out of reach.
The
game ended somewhat fiery
from a Calgary
perspective with a late
goal by Martin Gelinas -
due to the net crashing
drive by Chuck Kobasew -
and a frustrated donny
brook from Calgary
captain Jarome Iginla.
The
Calgary captain was held
shot-less on the
afternoon, and now
pointless in the series,
and was clearly
frustrated, picking and
successfully finding a
fight with Detroit
defenceman Darian
Hatcher.
From
a Red Wing perspective
the late game display
would suggest that
they've successfully
"gotten" to
Calgary's best player,
knocking him off his
game.
A
Calgary spin would
suggest the captain has
had enough and is ready
to bounce back with a
monster game in Calgary
on Tuesday night.
No
matter how you slice it,
the Saddledome should be
a rocking in three days
with the home town crowd
welcoming their team
back after successfully eliminating
the Vancouver Canucks
and gaining a split in
Motor city.
An
angry captain, and a
Miikka Kiprusoff looking
to bounce back from
another five goal
disaster? Just the
recipe that has made the
Flames a post season
success.
Now
just to get those damn
talented Wings to
cooperate.
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