As most of the loyal GSN readers are Canadians (google analytics baby, I'm watching you watch me) you may be asking why the post game report has a picture of Timmies. Well, have you ever been to a Timmies located next to a highway and they guy in front of you orders the mythical insta-arteryClogger cholesterolEhancer massive-coronary in-a-biodegradable cup TRIPLE-TRIPLE? I have and it's not pretty. What is pretty though is the Calgary Flames blasting in 9 goals against the TB Lightning. In one game. Better yet, Iggy and the Juice posting hat tricks each henceforth known as the Triple-Triple. To make up for his sieve like goal tending, Kipper posted an assist as well.
So, let's stop the bus here a second. Last nights goal-a-thon was PPV so I had to listen to the fan960 on the internet. I may have missed some of the key elements but it sure seems like everyone got some huge points last evening. Even on the TB side as they pumped in a mere 6 goals themselves. All I can say is WTF?
Keenan was quoted as saying: "Anything that could happen, did. Neither coach would be happy with this game in terms of the defensive play. And if you're an offensive coach, you loved it. I don't there there are any offensive coaches in the league"
Oh, Iron Mike, I beg to differ. Tortorella is a pretty offensive guy. I'm sure his post game comments were, "YEARGH RAWRG GGGGNNNSH We NEED SOME GODDAMN GOALTENDING!" then he likely had to change his shorts because he soiled them with rage. The big T also dies his beard.
So it is still not time to get excited about the Flames. Please remain fashionably calm. Yes they have strung together 3 wins but Kipper didn't do so hot, Eriksson has returned to minus 70 kabillion and our PP still looks iron deficient in a Mischa Barton sort of way. Winning is good, and I will gladly accept the 2 points but chalk this one up to revenge for TB winning the cup in 2004. If the Flames return from this road trip 6-0 then I will get excited. I might even squee. Not before.
Maybe it was the yelling earlier in the week. Maybe the it was the long overdue promotion of Lombardi to the first line. Maybe it was Owen Nolan's offensive prowess awakening. Anyway you cut it, the Flames eked out a win against a divisional rival. Against the Avs no less. I abso-freaking-lutely REFUSE to prognosticate anything based on the Flames performance last evening. Historically, this season, we can expect to lose the next 4 games despite the team playing halfway to their potential Tuesday night.
It's been mentioned that the Flames Defense needs to move the puck more reliably. When the scoring summary reads, "Iginla Goal, assisted by Lombardi, Regehr" one can only point and shriek excitedly ABOUT DAMN TIME. For two reasons: lombo is on the 1st line bringing the level of speedy play by that unit up to lethal status. The second reason, maybe Regs can learn to move that puck. Maybe. I don't want to get excited here because I still witnessed some stellar defense idiocy (ie Sakic being all alone in the offensive zone) but perhaps there is life in the Flames after all.
Nolan - Connie - Nystrom. This. has. potential. Leave it alone Keenan. Kipper looked ok as well. Now, if we could only build on this instead of whiplashing back into the mediocrity of last week.
The Canucks have improved to 8-0-1 when facing divisional opponents. I think I liked Luongo better when he was a Florida Panther. I am starting to feel, as a Flames fan, we're in for a long season. Every time I get excited they bollix it up. Despite registering 9 more SOGs than the Nucks, the Flames failed to get more than one goal on Lanky Lou. Most of the NHL pundits thought the turning point of the game was Vancouver's kill of the Flames 5 on 3. Personally, I disagree. Our PP is erratic at best. If you wanted to isolate the real turning point look no further than 3 seconds before the first Vancouver goal. When our Defense collided leading to the turn over that Sedin buried. For the love of all that is proper, could we please stop piling into each other? I've watched novice kids not crash into each other at age 9. In other news, Regs took a slapper to the head, and had to leave the game. This is not great news but hopefully the Regster can pull it together in time for the Avs because we desperately need to win some divisional games. We can leech all the points off the Oilers we want, but SO WILL EVERYONE ELSE! Point of order here, the Canucks only had 5 defensemen and they still took it to us. On a go forward basis this game speaks volumes. Kipper is a solid goal tender but he requires a much stingier defense corp in front of him. Our Offense is delivering a decent number of SOGs but the quality of chances needs to be improved. A good goaltender stops every shot they can see. A great goalie can anticipate, so you have to be more aggressive in front of the net. The Flames can expect to see the Canucks in the playoffs, so they better get sorted out when facing them.
Well, that was a solid game on all levels. The Flames definitely deserved the win in my opinion and if you're an Oilers fan I would be getting very excited about the future of that club. This post is scant on details because the Flames are up again tonite against the 'Nucks.
Flames: Welcome back guys you had me at DEFENSE. Granted the oil are fielding a young team but they have been playing extremely well of late and Garon is backstopping like nothing else. Still, at the end of period 2 the shots on goal were 8-20 in Calgary's favour. That's what I like to see. As for offense, the Nystrom, Nolan, Lombo line was incredible. Speed, scoring, grit! Oh yeah! And Connie, bout damn time. Kipper looked stellar as well. Tonite's tilt against the Canucks will be a true test.
Oil: Man, the first period had so much energy and I would credit 60% of it to the Oilers. This team is going to be a serious contender towards the end of this season and definitely next season. Garon looks better than Rollie. More than anything the Oil need a goalie that can steal some games for them.
Well well well, finally something fun to post about. A Flames Victory! Yesterday's tilt was extremely well pre-gamed by the crew. Read about it here, here and here. As well, bid WI well on her trip across the pond.
So, to 'bidness. I was relegated to highlights mostly as I was rocking out at a concert. Travis is an extremely talented band and the show was equally awesome. However, I made sure to catch most of the first period. I saw some speed! I saw some life! Maybe the woes of late were related to the 'strep throat' going around the locker room? (not likely)
Anyhow, Dion scored the only real goal for the Flames. The rest were lucky and it's damn nice to see the luck going our way for a change. Iggy's goal was legendary and deserves a moments appreciation for the laws of physics. I am amazed Juice's goal was allowed as it seemed to rip apart the space time continuum while finding a way past Backstrom. Kipper stopped 26 shots enroute to the win but still seems plagued by nasty bounces and sketch D puck side pressure. Actually, I'm not sure that sentence makes sense, I think the Flames need to do the trash drill from disney's the Mighty Ducks.
I will not sit here and tell you the Flames woes are over. They are not. Minnie didn't dress a few key guys last night so while we can enjoy the victory, we shouldn't savor it. CGY has more potential than drawbacks, but the team must persevere through adversity. They need to bail out the Kipper, the hockey gods know they owe him huge, while he finds his feet. Hard work, discipline, and a strong sense of team need to the main thoughts of every member on that team for the rest of this season.
Fresh off the news of Kipper's long term deal the Flames, deep in their long home stretch, faced the Nashville Predators. To be fair, Nashville is having a rough season, the bulk of their core vanished in the off season and the near constant talks of moving the team must be giving Coach Barry a case of the 'trotz'. Regardless, the Preds have a lineup filled with cool sounding names like Bonk, Radulov, Fiddler and the ever feisty Tootoo so they should get some credit for providing the color commentators an endless stream of material.
To the game: The star of this game was Kipper. How many times have we said that? Hundreds. But it's the first time this season that I've seen Kipper be, well Kipper (killed a minute long 5 on 3 don't you know). Was it a better showing from the Calgary D-corps? Maybe but the Preds racked up 40 SOG so it was a busy night for the Flames netminder. On a few occasions the Flames looked mighty scrambly but they would snap out of it and get back to what they do best this season, scoring goals.
It helps when your opposing netminder, Mason, has been leaking like a sieve of late but to Mason's credit he made some highlight reel saves. Nonetheless, Iggy converted twice, the Juice fanned in a dirty filthy five hole goal, Lombardi shoveled in a high speed backhand, and Nystrom tallied his first NHL goal in a 2 on 1with Moss late in the 3rd. Radulov tallied for the Preds on a PP ending their drought for road PP goals. This fact was highlighted with Trotz twitching a sigh of relief on the Pred bench. Tootoo was oddly absent in this game as the only thuggery was presented by Zidlicky with a late elbow on Mark Smith. As usual, it was a non-call (you can guess who was reffing), but hey, what's new?
So, an excellent performance but one to be expected when you play a team lurking in the NHL's basement. No offense to the Preds, they are in a tough spot (unlike some other teams Leafs and Canucks) and need to rebuild the team. A solid win for the Flames but tougher opponents lay ahead. I would expect the boys are getting ready to deliver.
After hearing about the pre season flames I felt some research needed to be done in person. Accompanied by my better half, we settled in to observe this years edition of the Calgary Flames take on the Vancouver Canucks. Things of note:
Flames Defense is a bit weak at this point. All the goals scored were a result of defensive idiocy including Dion letting some dude get a step on him.
Offensively the Flames dominated much of the game, 42 Shots on Goal, lots of time in the Canucks zone, Sanford was pelted with shots.
Fights! Iggy vs Kessler was a beat down for sure. But Peters got tuned but his canuck opponent (as shown above). But wait! Two fights in the pre season?
The Juice is loose and making moves left and right. Sadly, Christian got flattened a few times because he made one move too many.
Dion redeemed himself later in the game but not accepting the bait to get into a brawl. I respect that because it resulted in a Flames power play.
The Stripes were unreal during the game. I think they cloned Magoo.
The Nucks may have a solid backup goalie in Sanford.
All in all, a decent game. The Nucks look ready to bring the noise for this season and I think the Flames are, hopefully, just tuning the engine. Let us hope.
