Yes, the Flames blew another 2 goal lead Saturday night when they fell to the Canucks 4-3 in overtime. While it was simply a matter of time before a team of Vancouver's strength finally edged out one of the Alberta squads, Calgary fans and faithful can rest easy in the knowledge that it took 24 minutes in penalties, 4 PP goals and an overtime to do it. In fact, 3 of the Canucks 4 PP goals occured with only 3 Flame defenders on the ice...Sami Salo scored a 4on3 goal in the second period and a 6on3 goal with 30 seconds remaining in the 3rd period. Vancouver then scored the winning goal on another 4on3 advantage in overtime.
Of course, given that the Flames were winning 3-1 with less than 10 minutes to play and ended up yielding the contest in overtime (thanks, in part, to a highly dubious penalty call on Huselius), it was a none to pleasant sight to behold. The excessive penalty minutes and extremely inopportune calls (end of the third/overtime) handed to the Flames were an issue, but one has to give credit to the Vancouver Canucks - They played a tough, high-tempo game and managed to take advantage of the opportunties that were given them. While inconsistent officiating was definately a factor in this contest, the Flames penchanct for sitting resolute in a passive defensive shell once they obtained a 2 goal advantage was equally to blame for the loss. The Canucks failed to fold after Iginla's tally and pressed the issue for the rest of the period. The Flames responded by trapping and taking penalties. Which leads me to wonder if there is some sort of systemic root cause of Calgary's total inability to hold onto 2 goal leads. Consider that Calgary has lost to Chicago, Edmonton, Los Angeles, Nashville and now Vancouver. In every game, the Flames held a 2 goal lead at some point. In fact, Calgary also enjoyed a 2 goal advantage over the Oilers in their most recent contest; a game in which the Flames only to managed to claim victory thanks to a last minute bank-shot. That's 6 games (5 in the last month) where a team built on strong goaltending and "team defense" has squandered multiple goal leads...
Considering the Flames success over the course of the first half the season, it's hard to complain too loudly. However, the above trend is a rather disturbing one - and whether it's cause is coaching or psychology - Im hoping it's banished and burned as quickly as possible.
Some Positives and Negatives -
Positives:
- Miikka Kiprusoff. Was outstanding despite the 4 goals against. Making a bid for both the Vezina and Hart trophies at this point.
- Dion Phaneuf. Collects his 10th(!) goal of the year, only half way through his rookie season.
- Jarome Iginla. Starting to look more and more like the Jarome of old. Scored what should have been the deciding goal.
- Stephane Yelle. Did everything he could to prevent the Canucks from scoring. A true team player and warrior. Also scored the opening goal.
- Still gain a point and remain in first place in the division.
Negatives:
- Too many penalties. While the Flames were victims of a couple phantom calls, they still managed to take too many legit. penalties. Need to learn to ignore that scum-bag Ruutu.
- Penalty-Killing. While it's hard to fault the PK unit(s) since they were short-handed so much (and so often), the numbers don't lie - 60% effeciency on the night.
- Fall after leading by 2. Again. See above.
- Officiating. I just have to complain about the Huselius call again. GRRRRR.
- Jarko Ruutu. He truly is a smarmie, gutless punk.
Anyways, with that out of my system, I look forward to seeing how Calgary manages against Team Czech Repu...I mean the New York Rangers tomorrow night.
