''It was a terrible first two periods. This was a team missing a majority of their top players. There were a lot of minor league guys out there,'' Calgary defenceman Robyn Regehr said. ''We didn't take advantage of that at all." - TSN.ca
While this quote from Regehr regarding the Flames efforts last night against Dallas is apropos, a much more succinct "same old story" would have been as equally as appropriate.
Like the previous loss to Nashville - and most of their road defeats this season - the Flames played about 10 minutes of quality hockey and about 50 minutes of baffling "who the fuck ARE these guys" garbage-shinny-find-a-way-to-lose dreck. This most recent set-back, coming against basically an AHL team plus Lehtinen and Turco, moved the Flames to 6 games below .500 on the road. Six games in the red for a team that is 13 games over .500 at home!? Line-matching and last change alone cannot account for this kind of differential.
I don't think I've ever encountered anything like this previously. The Flames weren't that great on the road last year too, sure, but they managed to get up around the .500 mark by years end at least. This season that goal looks practically unattainable. I don't think Calgary has beaten a team higher than them in standings all year away from the Dome; even when said team is severely handicapped by injuries like Dallas was last night.
Ugh. I feel the Flames are a psychological vulnerability away from being an elite club. If they could find some method to at least occassionally replicate their home performances on the road once and a while they could probably run away and hide with the NW division crown. As it stands, this penchant for bed-shitting in other area codes is damning the Flames to remain in the tooth-and-nail dogfight that is positions 5-10 in the Conference...
A couple of notes from the game itself:
- Huselius was, by a wide margin, the best Calgary player on the ice. Even Langkow, who has been better than solid recently, was MIA last night. Juice scored his 20th goal of the season, extending his point-streak to 5 games, and was PKing like a mad man. During one particular sequence, he fought off 2 opponents at the Flames blueline while a man-down and managed to muscle the puck out of the zone with his skate. If the rest of the team had played with that degree of fight and determination for the whole of the contest the outcome would have been rather different.
- Alex Tanguay has been totally invisible the last 2 games to my eyes. In fact, he looks downright disinterested most of the time he's on the ice. I hope he can be re-awakened by Iggy's return.
- Andrei Zyuzin is a horrible defenseman. He made a laugh-out-loud mistake last night that lead the Star's go ahead goal. I assume he'll see the press-box next game and will remain there until injuries press him into duty once more. I doubt he will be a Flame come July.
- Matthew Lombardi had his first bad game in awhile. He was pretty much totally neutralized by Dallas' stifling trap. In addition, he was saddled with Moss and Boyd as linemates for some reason for most of the night. I like Moss and Boyd, but I bet Dave Tippett licked his chops whenever he saw that trio skate onto the ice for a face-off.
- I think Playfair recognized how much Warrener and Regehr were struggling together in Nashville, which is why he dressed 7 defensemen against Dallas. Throughout the evening Playfair was juggling the duos to see if he could identify some chemistry. Giordano, in particular, was frequently swapped around. I didn't see anything of note (besides Zyuzin sucking), but maybe Playfair found a new combination or two for the future.
- Was Nilson playing last night?
Sigh and double sigh. The good news is the Flames return home for a date with the Prongerless and struggling Anaheim Ducks. Here's hoping they can bust this 2 game skid and go into Edmonton on a winning note.
