The Calgary Flames managed to pull out a much needed victory over the Oilers last night - despite playing like a bush-league Bantam team for ther first half of the contest (with the notable excpetion of Miikka Kiprusoff)...
From a Calgary perspective, the first 30 minutes were an attrocious conglomerate of fumbled passes, needless offsides and general befuddlement and hesistation. I watched the game, frustrated and annoyed. I swore so much during the opening period I could have been a character from a Tarantino movie. I was clutching at my hair by the roots and was poised to turn the game off at any moment. After the Oiler's dubious goal, perhaps karmically earned, if not legitimate in it's own right, I was almost positive that the Flames were on their way to another embarrasing loss. But then...something strange happened.
Puck pursuit. Forechecks and pressure and speed. Aspects of Flames hockey seemingly lost or forsaken. Thanks should be afforded to Shean Donovan and Marcus Nilson - the former with a speedy rush, and the latter with a sudden offensive-zone forecheck - that seemed to awaken the slumbering Calgary team. Throw in a short-handed break away save by Kipper, and the transformation was fully initialized. Reinprecht scored his PP goal shortly thereafter and the momentum and timbre of the game shifted completely. Calgary spent the rest of the contest resembling more and more the Flames of last season. High pressure forechecking caused by speed and work ethic. Good defensive zone coverage...now if the team that appeared for the latter half of this game can continue to arrive in every game hearafter, the Flames fortunes will change quite drastically from their early season woes. Here's hoping!
The positives:
- Kiprusoff. Basically the reason Calgary won. Held Edmonton to one goal even though Calgary was outshot 14-4 in the first frame. Was robbed of a shut-out when a missed goaltender interference call resulted in an empty net goal for Ethan Moreau. With this performance, Kipper has allowed only 5 goals over 4 games (3 versus Dallas), for a GAA of 1.25. A marked and resounding improvement over his first 4 games of the season.
- PK and Defense. Calgary managed to kill off all 6 Edmonton PP's last night, including a 4 minute high-sticking call to Kobasew. It's no coincidence that Kipper's improved play AND the improved defense are occuring in concert. Hopefully this trend continues.
- Chuck Kobasew. Another 2 goals to lead the Flames (4 overall), including the game winner. Kobasew is playing with confidence and with the "nose for the net" that was implied by his offensive numbers in junior hockey.
- Steven Reinprecht. Scored the tying PP goal with a laser beam shot into the top corner. Also showed his stickhandling and speed at times.
- Phaneuf. Big hits and steady play. Even muscled big George Laraque off the puck in the second period.
Negatives -
- First period. Just horrible in almost every way besides Kipper. Gah.
- Iginla. While he's been average in most situations until now, Jarome was downright BAD last night. Calgary won in spite of his performance, not because of it. It was an Iginla give-away that lead to Dvorak's short-handed break away. Also, over the last 5 periods of hockey, Iginla hasn't registered a shot. With over 20 minutes of ice per night (nearly half of it PP time) that is simply not accetable. Of course, it is only a matter of time before Jarome starts to turn it on...but when will that happen?
Mercifully, the list of "negatives" is getting shorter. My hopes are that the Flames build on the positives from this game during their up-coming road trip. The next significant goal for Calgary now is to win 2 in a row!
