Anyone who watched the season opener for the Flames was, no doubt, rather disappointed. The anxious and apparently confused team that showed up for the first half of the season opener against the Wild was a stark contrast to the determined and hard skating club that went to game 7 of the stanley up finals in 03-04. A 6-3 loss to what is, on paper, a vastly inferior team in the Minnesota Wild will inevitably bring to bear some of the insecurities haunting Flames fans: Was the cup run 2 years ago a fluke? A one year wonder? Will Kiprusoff continue to be the stellar starter he seemed to be previously? Of course, thanks to past improbable cup runs by the Hurricanes and the Ducks, Flames fans can't help but have visions of Irbe and Giguere dancing in the back of their minds - first standing impenetrable for their teams in cup finals, and after, thrashing helplessly on the ice and out of the playoff race.
As pertintent as the worries may seem after the embarrassing 6-3 loss on Wednesday, they are, of course, based on a painfully small sample size - a miniscule 1 game of 82 - thereby making them as yet unsubstatiated and unrealized. Worry only, then, if the Flames of this season opener appear for 20 more games...
On that note, some positives yielded from Wednesday's contest include:
- The play of Yelle, McCarty and Nilson. Scored a goal, applied good pressure most of the night, and weren't (-) in a game where the opposition scored 4 even-strength goals.
- Iginla scoring. A notoriously slow starter, every Flames fan hopes Iginla gets hot right out of the gate this season.
- Dion Phaneuf. while unspectacular, was steady and solid and had several shots on goal.
- Rhett Warrener. Sturdy and relaible, the best defensemen for the Flames on this night. Was +1 and hammered Andrei Zyuzin with a clean hit that sparked Calgary's "come-back" in the third.
- The third period. An awakened Calgary squad out-shot the Wild 17 - 6, and were within one goal of tying it before Todd White's insurance marker (which came due to Montador's error behind the Flames net).
And now the negatives:
- Montador, Ference, Hamrlik - Hesistant, awkward and indecisive. Hamrlik seemed to improve as the game wore on and made a great play on a Wild partial break later in the game...but Montador and Ference were brutal all night long. The latter two were on for AT LEAST 4 of the Wild's 6 goals, and, in particular, conspired to cause the Wild's 5th goal, a back-breaking tally. Any knowledgable fan or coach who watched as the Flames won the draw, moved the puck behind the net only to have it suddenly passed into the slot and hammered home was probably baffled and disgusted. I know I was. I've coached PeeWee and would have been angry and disappointed if my 13 year-old players did that. Gah!
- Simon, Reinprecht, Kobasew - Pretty much a non-factor offensively and big-time liabilities on defense. In addition, Reinprecht and Simon took silly "obstruction" type penalties that lead to Wild PP goals.
- Flames Powerplay. Still resembles powerplays of old. No real pressure and inability to penetrate the offensive zone. Langkow's goal, the lone marker in the 1 for 8 PP futility, was basically a fluke pass that deflected in off of wild D-man Brent Burns.
- The first period. One of ther worst by a Flames team in recent memory. Out-shot 16-3 by the Wild...and the 3 shots were from defensemen (Phaneuf and Hamrlik). Almost no forecheck to speak of, lack-lustre intensity, passes into feet and open ice. Have you ever woken someone while they are sleep walking...you know how they look utterly baffled and confused when they realize where they are? That's how the WHOLE TEAM looked during period one. In fact, it resembled a preseason team littered with rookies and fringe-players. Happily, it didn't last the whole game. But...*shudder*
Neutral -
- Kiprusoff. Made some great saves and was hung out to dry by his team a lot. However, was disastorously out of position for the first goal. Further, he wasn't the "game stealer" in this contest like he was last season. Goals 5 and 3, for instance, are stops he probably can make and has made in the past...but aren't ones that he should be EXPECTED to make. Hopefully his stellar bouce-back performance ( 8 - 0) continues this season.
That's it for now - Next up - Blue-Jackets Analysis.
