It's been tough to rouse myself from the post holiday malaise the past few days. I did manage to catch the Canucks/Flames game with a few other Flames bloggers. Beers were consumed and disgust at yet another loss to our hated Divisional rivals was expressed. Good times.
Tonight the Ducks are in town, fresh off of 4 straight wins since the return of Neidermayer the greater. The Flames have lost 3 straight and have only managed 7 wins at home all year. The defense and Kipper in particular took a couple steps back against the Canucks, which has kinda been the story for Calgary this year: whenever they seem to finally be improving in area or another, a bad game or two plunges them back into the depths of mediocrity. The record-tying 6 game roady seemed like a cure-all and definitive step forward for this club at the time, but is looking more and more like an aberrant blip on the radar. To be fair, some things have certainly improved since October: Regehr, Sarich, the PK. Boyd and Nystrom have been pleasant surprises. Overall, though, consistent excellence remains elusive and will continue to do so as long as the secondary scoring is spotty and Miikka Kiprusoff is merely average.
The latter point is probably the most worrisome. Calgary could no doubt outscore their other issues if they had the Kipper of old between the pipes. There have been brief flashes of Finnish brilliance this year, but they've proven and rare and transient. The loss to Vancouver was yet another in a long line of losses suffered due to a questionable goal or two. If Miikka can't find himself in January (for good), the best the Flames can hope for is a repeat of last year: squeak into the post-season and get waxed by the Red Wings.
As for tonight, I haven't seen the Ducks since Neidermayer returned, but it's hard to argue with the results. With the Captain, Chris "Elbows" Pronger, Frenchy Beauchemin and Old Man Schneider on the back-end, Anaheim has arguably the best blueline in the league again. They also have one of the best checking units centered by Sammy Pahlsson. In short, it's gonna be a tough one tonight, particularly if the bIggy line continues to struggle to produce at ES (which is very probable, given the competition).
Predicition - Let's give it to the visitors. Ducks 4, Flames 2. Pronger, Getzlaf (2) and Weight for Anaheim. Lombardi and Langkow for Calgary.
Earl's take from the Battle of California here.
