It honestly felt like my birthday and Christmas had come early and were occuring simultaneously on Saturday night:
- 6-3 win over Colorado on Friday!
- 4-1 win over Edmonton on Saturday!
- 10 goals scored in 2 games and 2 consectuive 3 goal victories!
- The Edmonton crowd's gnashing of teeth over at the Battle of Alberta (see comments).
- Move 4 points up on Colorado for the division lead.
- Move ever closer to the "play-off clinching" point total of 96.
Yes, it was a wonderful, wonderful weekend. It wasn't "Stanley cup" winning wonderful. It wasn't even "knock out Vancouver in the first round" wonderful. But damn good, nonetheless.
Gotta say, the Flames as a whole surprised me. After their none-too-good road trip, I was starting to get a tad worried. However, even with a dense schedule and a bunch of significant injuries, the boys pulled through in great fashion. Heck, they're even starting to score some. If THIS is the team that's going to appear in the post season this year, color me satisfied, win or lose.
And now...
Colorado P/N
Positives:
- 6 goals for! That ever elusive killer instinct arrives!
- I mentioned in the pre-game write-up that the team that got a better performance from their support players would win. I was right. Donovan, Lombardi, Simon, Macdonald...everyone was contributing.
- Dion Phaneuf. Changes the feel of the game with 2 huge hits in the second period. Seemed to ignite the Flames.
- Shean Donovan. Covered briefly above. Scored one of the nicest goals by a Flame all season and assisted on Macdonald's goal. Best game of the year for Dono.
- Tony Amonte. Still didn't score but was playing his ass off. It was his great pass that set-up Lombo's short-handed break-away.
- Mush and Hulse. Pressd into action thanks to injuries, the pair weren't humiliated by the talented Avs, which is saying something. Did all we can expect of them.
- Jarome Iginla. Was really strong along the wall and set-up a Gift for Langkow.
Negatives:
- First Period. Gave up a one goal lead thanks to goals 20-odd seconds apart by Sakic. I hate it when they do that!
- Andrew Ference. On for all 3 goals against. 2 Miscues lead to Av's 1st and 3rd goals. Made me wish for Leopold to come back as fast as possible...
- Kristian Huselius. Invisible for most of the game.
Edmonton P/N
Positives:
- Take the game and the season series! Another season of dominating the Oil!
- Miikka Kiprusoff. Made the big saves when we needed him to. The break-away stop on Peca comes to mind.
- Kristian Huselius. After some mediocre performances, Beetlejuice shows up to score another game winner against the Oilers. Was robbed of a hat-trick by the cross-bar.
- Jarome Iginla. Played a complete, all-around game. Has quietly put together a 6 game point streak.
- Damond Langkow. Scored his 22nd of the year and added an assist. Seems to be clicking with Jarome a bit more.
- Andrew Ference. Okay, I pick on this guy a lot. But he managed a decent game in his own end and even added the back-breaking PP goal in the 3rd to seal the deal.
- Mush and Hulse. The two back-benchers came through in the clutch again.
- Powerplay. 2 for 6 on the night.
- Penalty Kill. Denied all 5 Oiler chances.
Negatives:
- Officiating. Nominal penalty calls half the time and then the "delayed penalty" debacle in the third.
- First 10 minutes. Calgary was pretty much totally outplayed at the start of the game before turning it around.
- Simon losing to Big Georges. The fight was a little anti-climatic thanks to Simon's little stumble that basically lead to his waving his hands in the air and then falling down. He didn't return after being cut in the fight.
Anyways, it's on to Detroit tonight. The Flames have a chance to climb further atop the NW while coming ever closer to ensuring a play-off berth. Here are some of the factors:
- Calgary still has a full sick-bay. Leopold, Nilson, Lundmark, Warrener and McCarty are all still out. Which means more of Hulse, Mush, Germyn and Macdonald...while they have performed admirably thus far, the Flame's luck can only last so long.
- Detroit has clinched just about everything and is playing out the stretch. This is their 3rd game in 4 nights (I believe) on this road trip. They may just mail one in, especially if Calgary starts hitting them early and often.
- Detroit is also playing without noteworthy regulars Manny Legace and Matthew Schneider.
- Calgary is going for their 4th win in a row for the first time since January. Conversely, Detroit hasn't lost in regulation in the last 10 games (7-0-3).
- The Red Wing's impressive away record (27-6-3) is about the same as the Flame's impressive home record (26-7-3).
It all adds up to a head scratcher. Detroit is the best team in the league in terms of points, but have had the benefit of feasting on the weak sisters in the central division all year. Plus, Im fairly certain the Flames have won the last couple of meetings between these two teams...
Let's just hope for another solid performance. Im still all a-glow from this weekend's fun-ness, so I wouldn't be terribly depressed by a loss tonight (especially given all the injuries).
That said I still would vastly prefer a win...
GO FLAMES GO!
