Game day musings--Hoping for a miracle

In case you haven't heard, Sidney Crosby and the defending Stanley Cup champion Penguins are in town (7:30 PM, TSN).

It's kind of a big deal. Sid can't even leave his hotel room for fear of being mauled by hockey-crazed Calgarians. Can you blame us? We're having trouble remembering what a potential fifty-goal scorer looks like.

I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't a huge Crosby fan myself, and shamelessly jumped on the Penguins bandwaggon when the Flames were ousted from the playoffs last spring.

The 'Dome is being swarmed by giggling tweens in Crosby and Malkin baby tees and starry-eyed pee-wee players eager for a glimpse of their favourite playoff performers as we speak.

Outscoring, and subsequently beating, the Pittsburgh Penguins tonight will likely require a miracle. The Pens' forwards are fast, skilled, and waiting to exploit every mistake made by the opposition. A quick glimpse at the Penguins' top-six is enough to make any Flames fan burst into tears; inferiority is an understatement. Every man on the bench, including the coaches, will have to play a virtually error-free game and execute their game plan to a tee if they hope to come out on top.

The defence will have to be perfect, Kiprusoff will have to be exeptional, and the forwards will have to be relentless. While the Flames' recent performance in terms of outshooting and out-chancing the opposition is encouraging, they still have to focus on turning in a sixty-minute effort and sustaining the style of play that makes them successful throughout the game. Any lapse in their compete level against a team like the Penguins will kill them.

As for the lineup, the Flames comfirmed speculation that Jamie Lundmark would indeed be back a day after being sent down to Abbotsford with the news of Craig Conroy's return from injury, after defenceman Staffan Kronwall cleared waivers and was subsequently demoted to the Heat. He will once again get the chance to suit up on the Flames' top line alongside Jokinen and Iginla, who has been held pointless in his past four games despite recent inspired efforts.

It'll be interesting to see if McGrattan draws into the lineup, and will likely depend on whether or not the Penguins dress fellow goon and former Flame Eric Godard. If there is one area where the Flames out-shine the Pens, I dare say Gratts is ever-so-slightly better at hockey than Godard. That, and their powerplay might just be worse than Calgary's, if you can believe it. That being said, the Flames don't want to provide the Penguins with too many opportunities to break out of their man-advantage funk, and will have to avoid the kind of boneheaded penalties that got them in trouble Monday night against Colorado. To make matters worse, the now infamous Stephane Auger will be sharing officiating duties tonight.

The Flames have been a slump-buster of sorts for struggling teams recently, and that trend could very well extend into tonight's contest. I've been pleasantly surprised by this team before in games against great teams; I don't anticipate this being such an occasion.

Nevertheless,

Go Flames Go.

I want Craig Anderson dead

Seriously, how many times can this happen?

Aside from a ten-minute lapse which saw the Avs score twice to tie the game at two in the second period, the Flames dominated this game. They fired fourty-six shots at Craig Anderson and were gifted with a powerplay in the dying minutes of regulation, which carried over into an eventual two-man advantage in overtime, on which they failed to score.

As per usual in games against the Avs, the end result left me with a hoarse voice and the desire to chuck my BlackBerry at the nearest wall, like I did after the loss to Columbus on Friday. I know the Flames aren't exactly stacked offensively, but how can any team accumulate fourty-six shots on goal and only score twice? Yes, Anderson was good. He definitely stole the game for the Avs, but he is beatable, as the Flames proved earlier in the game. He also got plenty of help from the team in front of him, who blocked twenty-seven shots, and the Flames also missed the net on eleven attempts.

They weren't all top-quality shots, and the Flames sometimes appeared as if they were trying for the perfect play or the perfect shot, but at the end of the day, Anderson stopped all but two.

Which brings me to this conclusion:

I want Craig Anderson dead. I'll hire Keith Ballard if I have to.

He looks like a mouse and is too much of a goody-two-shoes to say "ass" on TSN (around the 1:25 mark).

Watching this team try to set up a play or a shot is sometimes painful. Watching the game at home, you can see that shooting or passing lanes are opening up, but the players don't take advantage. They pass when they should have shot and shoot when they should have passed. They wait too long and fire the puck into an opposing player's shinpads, often resulting in an odd-man rush against. Obviously, this is most evident on the powerplay, which the Flames haven't scored on for five straight games and have scored just three powerplay goals in their past eleven games. They had three prime opportunities to end the game with the man advantage and were unable to capitalize on them, which cost them the extra point.

Again, we all went into the season knowing that this team wasn't outrageously talented, but the inability to finish, with the man advantage when a point and sole possession of first place in the division is on the line, is unacceptable and needs to be rectified. Jarome Iginla is in the midst of a four-game pointless streak, and the Flames' secondary scoring has all but disappeared, with players like Dawes, Sjostrom, and Boyd (until tonight) experiencing lengthy droughts. I don't know if it's going to require something as simple as switching up the players on the first and second powerplay units, changing the strategy with the extra man, or acquiring a more creative forward, but it has to get better, especially with games against teams like the Penguins, Hawks, and Sharks coming up. This team's inability to finish is costing them points and wins, which become even more crucial as the season wears on and the division and conference standings become more highly contested.

I've said it before when this team has been struggling offensively, but that Ray Whitney deal which was supposedly close to fruition earlier this season may not be such a bad idea after all, especially if he scores goals like this, against Colorado to boot:

Think about it Darryl; for the sake of my (questionable) sanity.

Unrelated:

I hate Alex Burrows as much as the next Flames fan, but his shocking testimony of referee Stephane Auger's

pre-game threats and sub-sequent exaction (is that a word?) of revenge for previous grievances is a huge blow

to what little credibility NHL officials have left.

Up Next: The defending Stanley Cup champions are in town on Wednesday (7:30PM, TSN) for a game

which I have been begging for tickets to since before the Flames' schedule was announced. I will be living

vicariously through those of you in attendance.

Go Flames Go.

Homeward Bound

The Flames closed out their six-game road trip with a 2-1 loss to the Kings in L.A. last night on the heels of a valiant effort in San Jose on Saturday. The Flames struggled to find the back of the net for the third straight game after a five-goal outburst in Nashville, scoring only four times in those three games. More concerning for the boys in red is their ineffective powerplay--which essentially cost them the game last night--and the ability of the opposition to shut down the top line of Iginla, Jokinen, and whoever else happens to be playing alongside them.

When the Flames were down by a goal in the second and third periods, I found that they tried to do too much offensively (i.e. Phaneuf's no-look backhand pass in the Kings' zone that promptly found its way onto the stick of an L.A. player), and as a result gave up some good quality scoring chances despite limiting the Kings to sixteen shots on goal. The speedy Kings forwards got around the Flames' defence on several occasions--particularly Adam Pardy, who did not have a good game--and exposed the hole left on the blueline with the absence of Regehr. Clearly Sutter lied through his teeth when he said that Regehr would be "fine," as he obviously wasn't "fine" enough to play last night.

I know that the Flames are going to run into hot goalies every so often (and it seems to be very often lately), but they still have to find a way to score goals, on the powerplay and at even strength. Removing Bourque from the top line probably doesn't help, and as Kent points out at M&G, it makes perfect sense that the team's best left winger should skate on the first line, especially since the line of Dawes-Langkow-Moss was operating so smoothly in his absence. Langkow and Bourque clearly have chemistry, so I'm not going to object to him playing on the second line too much, but this first-line-winger business is getting a little ridiculous.

I noticed on a few powerplay opportunities that all five Flames players were concentrated down low, around the net or between the faceoff circles, with little to no coverage on the points or on the boards, especially when they were really pressing for the tying goal. This made it easy for the Kings' penalty killers to intercept passes and clear the zone. While I don't advocate simply blasting the puck from the point and not moving it around, a good powerplay employs a little of both strategies, and the Flames seem to opt for either or. I feel like the faceoff debate is somewhat of a moot point now, but it was painfully evident how the Flames' failure to win draws effected their momentum last night, particularly on special teams and in the dying minutes of the third period.

I don't want to take too much away from what was a very good effort and a successful road trip overall. I thought that Giordano had an excellent game; he was a force at both ends of the ice--especially on a play where he held the puck in just inside the blueline after almost losing it two or three times. He also drew a penalty and was +1 in just over twenty-one minutes of ice time. The third line of Glencross-Conroy-Nystrom was also very good, they were skating and forechecking well and created what seemed like the majority of the Flames' scoring chances before Conroy was injured in an open-ice collision with a Kings player. I'm not sure why people seem to think it's a leg injury, he had an ice pack on his wrist on the bench. Sutter says he's "fine," which likely means he won't be playing tomorrow against the Thrashers.

Finally, some congratulations are in order:

- To Jay Bouwmeester, who played his 500th career game last night, playing over thirty minutes in the process and finishing the evening +1.

- And to Curtis Glencross, who recently got engaged (!). Happy times.

Atlanta tomorrow.

The Thrashers (15-9-3) have never won in Calgary since their inception in the 1999-2000 season, which seems to be a recipe for disaster in the Flames' first game home after a long road trip. Kovalchuk+Afinogenov+Antropov+Some Wonderkid Thrashers Goalie-Regehr=Shit.

If the Leafs can beat Atlanta, I should hope that the Flames are equally capable.

Go Flames Go.

Post-game party: Flames 6, Blue Jackets 3

I have learnt two things about the Flames since their season began three weeks ago: 1) It ain't over till it's over and 2) Never get excited about a Flames lead, no matter how big, especially in the first period.

The Flames jumped out to a quick two-goal lead just four minutes into the first period Tuesday evening against the Blue Jackets. Ahh the early lead, we've seen this beast before. It didn't take long for Columbus to put a dent in the Flames' two goal cushion, as Rick Nash did something involving a break away on a Flames 5-on-3 which caused my father and I to simultaneously throw up in out mouths a little bit. He berated Kiprusoff for not making the save (former goalie) while I prattled on about Dion Phaneuf's poor defensive positioning and how he should have hauled Nash down and risked taking a penalty on the play.

The Flames, however, weren't fazed by Nash's slick moves, and restored their two-goal lead shortly thereafter on a goal that bounced in off a Columbus d-man but was credited to Bouwmeester, sporting the shiner (above) for his first as a Flame. I think it looks good on him, makes him look tough. Shortly after the aforementioned Bouwmeester had endeared himself to the Calgary faithful, he began what would prove to be a long parade to the penalty box for the home side.

It all began with a simple play, I believe it was the fourth line of Boyd-Prust-McGrattan on the ice, when they failed to get the puck deep into the offensive zone and turned it over, resulting in unnecessary time spent in their own zone and subsequent penalty trouble. It is plays such as these that separate a guy like Boyd from second or first line duty, although he did see some powerplay time in this game. That puck gets chipped in and if you don't sustain some pressure, at least the other team is forced to go back and retrieve it. What was once an 11-3 advantage in shots for our boys evaporated to a slim 11-10 advantage, as they spent the last four minutes of the period on the penalty kill as a result of some questionable officiating (see: Kerry Fraser).

It was at this point that I decided I had seen enough and knew exactly what was about to happen. I stuck around for a bit when the second period started, but decided to save myself the anger and frustration that would surely follow Daymond Langkow's trip to the sin bin to give CBJ the 5-0n-3. This is what mind-numbing reality TV is good for. I tuned into The Hills (don't judge me, it's a guilty pleasure) for a few minutes, and low and behold, Columbus had squared the affair at three with two goals forty-eight seconds apart. Like I said before, never get too excited about a Flames lead, because it can disappear so very quickly. Again, I simply don't understand this. It has to be a psychological thing. Every time they allow a goal, is Brent Sutter supposed to call a time-out and remind them not to allow another one in the next thirty-seconds? This frustrates me to no end.

The Flames failed to register a shot on goal for the first ten minutes of the period, even though they had a powerplay two and a half minutes in, and were putting the Saddledome crowd to sleep until Dion Phaneuf, pressured back into his own zone by the Blue Jackets, retreated behind the Flames net with the puck and skated through centre ice, untouched, to fire a shot past Steve Mason from just inside the offensive blueline. Easy as pie. Flames lead 4-3 to end the second, despite getting outshot 10-4. To be fair, it is hard to get shots on goal when playing shorthanded for most of the period, but this team had been extraordinarily lucky that they have scored as many goals as they have given their average shots for per game, which I believe is hovering somewhere around 23. I am pleasantly surprised by how much this team is scoring and how they're doing it, but it won't continue if they don't start getting more pucks to the net.

Our boys managed to settle things down and suddenly remembered how to kill penalties in the third, resulting in a much more even period. It was at some point in the final frame when either Loubardias or Millions said, "nice back-checking by Jokinen," and I just about choked on my tea. Olli was +3, and if he's going to make up for not scoring by being solid defensively, that's fine by me. Well, not exactly, but I'll live with it.

Phaneuf's goal would stand up as the game winner, but Jarome Iginla would add some insurance and cap off a three point night with a perfect shot from the top (or bottom? I never know) of the faceoff circle which beat Mason top shelf. Vintage Iggy. I'm not the first to say this, but it makes me sad that we are now referring to exceptional goals or games from the captain as "vintage." Many people have pointed out, including myself, that we probably won't see another fifty-goal season from Jarome, and that at thirty-two, his best days are likely behind him. I'm feeling nostalgic for the Iggy of old just typing this, but if entering the final phase of his career means another thirty-five goal, eighty-nine point season, even against weaker competition, so be it.

After Flames fans were treated to their first real display of dominance from the captain, Fredrik Sjostrom topped it all off with this beauty of a goal:

Goal of the year. Suck it, Ovechkin.

Second period mini-meltdown and shorthanded goal aside, the Flames played very well at even strength, especially in the third period, where they did a great job of staying disciplined and defending the lead. I was impressed with the way they battled through their penalty troubles and stayed calm. They stuck with it and took advantage of their opportunities, and were rewarded with two points.

Special teams were indeed special, and not in a good way. These long breaks between games seem to be taking their toll on the PP and PK, but the Flames were up against the #1 penalty killing unit in the Blue Jackets, so I'm not overly concerned with their lack of production on the powerplay. The Flames won the faceoff battle at 55% in the circle, and again no player registered a negative +/- rating. Dion Phaneuf finished the game +2 while Jokinen, Iginla, and Regehr each earned +3 ratings. JBo was also +3 while Aaron Johnson was even in his debut with the Flames in eighteen minutes of ice time. Kiprusoff was very good, especially in the second and third periods, and was by far the Flames' best penalty killer, making multiple great stops to keep his team in the game when it was tied and to preserve the lead.

We saw some good things from this team last night in what looked like their best game as a team thus far--here's hoping we see more of it, more often.

Up Next: BOA Round 3, Saturday at the 'Dome (8 PM). With the Oilers lineup ravaged by a bout of the flu, though not of the Swine variety, we could see a repeat of the infamous "Flu Game" between the Leafs and Senators in 2004. Catching the flu from a member of the Oilers would just be like a double-whammy, wouldn't it?