Ho Hum another Flames home win. What's that, 26 in a row now? I guess it's more like 8, but you get the idea. Calgary is dynamite at the Dome. Now if they could only figure out how to be at least half as good on the road...
What truly made last night notable was the fact that the Flames won with me in attendance. My previous 2 December visits from last season featured come-from-behind victories for Phoenix and LA (it was during that regrettabe period of time where the a 2 goal lead for the Flames pretty much guaranteed they'd lose the game). I also happened to attend probably Calgary's worst home performance this year, the 4-1 San Jose loss. As you can no doubt tell, my expectations were appropriately repressed going into last night's contest.
The boys came through though. To an extent, at least. Neither club played with much fire for the majority of the contest. After the opening goal (scored on the opening shift), Calgary pretty much shut down the Carolina's attack. Which wasn't overly difficult since it looked like the visitors were skating in Oatmeal half the time. Perhaps they were saving their energy for the finals rematch tonight against Edmonton? I certainly hope so at least.
Anyways, as far as Im concerned, the Flames stars of the game were Lombardi, Iginla, Hamrlik and Huselius. Lombardi didn't appear on the scoresheet, but it wasn't from lack of trying. He made Commodore look foolish in the first period by blowing past him in the neutral zone; it's a pity Grahame managed to stop his patented "backhand through the five-hole" move on the ensuing break-away. Lombo also created a dangerous 2on1 later in the game with Kobasew that was broken up by a sly stick from Williams.
As for Iginla, he dominated in the offensive zone corners. There was a particular shift that drew an ovation from the crowd because the 'Cane's defenders were quite simply helpless agianst him. Had Tanguay buried a couple more of his chances, Iggy would have had 4 or 5 point night.
Juice looked like the most dangerous Flame forward for the first half of the game. His stickhandling lead to two glorious opportunities that were diverted through equal parts chance and decent goaltending. And his feed to Hamrlik on the 2nd Flames goal was picture perfect. Speaking of Hammer, not only did he score but he lead all skaters with about 25 minutes of ice. Suddenly Sutter's abandoning Lydman in favor of Hamrlik last year is starting to taste less bitter.
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With the shut-out win, the Flames remain the stingiest team around at 5on5. Thanks to their defensive prowess they now own an impressive +20 ES goal differential . Consider that Anaheim, currently the top team in the league, boasts a +14 (58 GF, 44 GA) at ES while the scoringest group of players in the NHL (Buffalo) are at +21 (74GF, 53GA). Truly elite company.
The special teams still reek and the road play has yet to impress, but one has to think that stuff like that will eventually fall in line. With the emergence of Lombardi and Huselius on the 2nd scoring unit, a resurging Jarome Iginla, a faultless Miikka Kiprusoff and the cohesive team defence, Calgary has all the tools to start climbing the NW division ladder. Especially sinced the Oilers and the Wild are decimated by injury, The Avs are just plain mediocre and the Canucks couldn't score on Philadelphia with Alan Bester in net. The key remains, however, a complete and consistent road effort. The upcoming 6 game roadtrip will determine whether Calgary will take their place among the league's best or remain firmly entrenched among the mediocre.
Next up - the wilting Wild
