I can't speak too intelligently about the Flames most recent win, having neither watched nor listened to any of the available broadcasts Saturday night. Therefore all I have is the faint chalk-outline of the game that is the boxscores and stats, as well as the minor hilights I could find.
That said, the much needed victory over 'Soda seemed to play out a lot like the victories of a few months past (See November). Specifically, the strategy was for Calgary to start out slowly and then gain momentum as the game went on. Unlike some of December (and the rest of their non-too-succesful 4 game road-trip), the Flames actually fell behind by a goal only to storm back with 4 unanswered tallies of their own. Of course, Calgary did manange to eventually build a 3-1 (2 goal) lead...but their penchant for blowing leads seems diminshed whenever they are on the comeback trail. Considering this curious habit, I may have to actually start cheering for opposing teams to score the first goal...
Positives and Negatives:
+'s:
- Huselius gets back on the scoresheet after going scoreless in 4 games. Another 3 points, including the game-clinching 3rd goal.
- Iginla scores the game winner by mucking it up in front of the net. Has goals in back-to-back games for the first time awhile.
- Chris Simon finally wins a fight. Against a 6 foot 7 sasquatch of a man no less.
- Damond Langkow scores the game tying goal and sets up Huselius. They seem to have some decent chemistry.
- Finally limited an opponent to less than 30 shots in a game. An improvement, although the Wild aren't known for their relentless attack.
- Calgary get's back in the win column and stays ahead of the rest of the NW division.
-'s:
- Jordan Leopold has another tough game. Leo has taken 3 penalties over this roadtrip that have lead to goals. The previous 2, prior to Saturday's contest, were game winners. Ended the night with 4 penalty minutes and an even rating.
- 0-6 on the Powerplay. The PP fizzles which is somewhat disappointing, although not that uncommon against the Wild, who are among the top teams in the league in PK.
- Too many break-aways. There are still some lingering defensive issues with this team, as evidenced by the number of times Gaborik and the Wild were allowed to break-in and/or alone in front of the net. Thank God we have Kipper.
Calgary has a few days rest before taken on the potentially re-energized Canadiens back in the Dome on Thursday. Hopefully the break gives Hamrlik time to fully recover from his knee injury and get back into the line-up.
