Not the most convincing of wins, but I'll take whatever I can get at the moment.
The boys got the bounces (finally), but Calgary wasn't necessarily the superior team last night, despite being on home ice against a principally neutered opponent (how is that Demitra and Gaborik both have groin injuries at the same time? Are they more than just friends?). The PK looked like a headless chicken whenever it lacked Lombardi and the Flames break-out is oddly similar to the Oilers break-out from last year:
[description] A panicked defender rims the puck to a winger with his ass on the boards and prayer in his heart. He's immediately set upon by one or two of his forechecking opponents. Sometimes, he'll succeed in coaxing the puck through a few legs or off the glass into the neutral zone. Far more frequently, though, he'll be rapidly overwhelmed, the puck will be shot back in, and the dance will begin anew.
As such, the Flames have a really hard time in the transition. A lot of energy is wasted just trying to extract the puck from their own end of the rink and/or retrieve it from the neutral zone. Whether it's the scheme at fault or the puck distributing skills of the defenders (I think it's the latter), the Flames are going to have to find a more efficient way to break-out. And soon.
Craig Conroy and Owen Nolan are empty helmets out there. Aside from his typical short-circuiting of Calgary's forecheck, missing opportunities, and losing key draws, Conroy flubbed a back-check last night leading to the Wild's first goal. Then there's Nolan, who seems to be resigned to his inexorable descent into obsolescence (at least Conroy is TRYING). He does little more than coast around. He looks surprised or confused whenever the puck lands on his stick. He frequently fails to even finish checks. He has truly become THE AMONTE (although, to be fair, Tony did seem to work his ass off more often than not).
As for the good, Matthew Lombardi looked like one of the best forwards on the ice for the second straight game. He saved a goal with a heady back-check in the third and was probably the Flames best penalty killer. He was briefly moved up to play with Tanguay and Iginla near the end of the game and didn't look out of place. I think it's only a matter of time now before we see Lombo as a permanent fixture among the top 6.
It's a small and tentative step forward, but it's a step. Kipper didn't let a softy in for the first time in awhile and Regehr is looking a little leaner and meaner since taking out his aggressions on poor Ales Hemsky on Saturday night. A consistently better Kipper and an intractable Regehr would go a long way to righting this ship. The PK would likely improve (a bit) and the only remaining issue would be coaxing some goals out of the supporting cast...
