Here's a thought - let's ride this seemingly inexorable wave of deja vu till the end of the season and then get off right after we win the division but before we lose out in the first round...deal? Deal.
If you can assume the existance of such an escape clause then there's lots to like in "Flames Country" right now. No one can score on Calgary at even strength. The goaltending is fantastic. And the fatter end of the payroll is starting to work together to produce picturesque scoring plays.
True, the special teams still languish in the league's cellar. But they'll come around eventually.
So good stuff all around. The worst part about last night - besides the infuriatingly frequent "Panago" ad that features some sweaty troglodyte standing stupidly in a field, wearing a gold hardhat, babbling at a Buffalo - was the play of Rhett Warrener. His typical "can't catch a slug in a glue-spill" skating ability was less than impressive. Plus he took three penalties in a row - lucky for him his third lead to Juice's fantastic SH roofer (The Flames 4th SH goal of the year so far).
At this point I'd say Warrener isn't much more valuable than Giordano (on the ice, at least), therefore making his $2.5 million/year salary (which stretches until 08/09) into a big, fat, leaden anchor of a contract. Expect him to be dealt for a prospect next summer at the latest.
It's a shame Lombardi didn't get on the scoresheet last night. He created no less than 2 shorthanded break-aways, one of which he still managed to get a shot away (despite being hooked on the play), and was generally effective everywhere on the ice. He drew penalties, killed penalties and played more at ES than the currently anointed #1 center, Langkow (who also played pretty well...I guess).
Oh! The Flames won more face-offs than they lost. Anyone got a "hell frozen over" graphic?
And one last bit of gloating...how about that SH-top-corner-shot by Huselius, hey HG? He's got 3 goals in his last 4 games as well...Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice!
Next up - the Red (Hot) Wings
