Flames have a chance to make it 5 for 5 this afternoon. Whodathunkit? Kipper stole the first couple while a suddenly potent offense stole the last couple. I'd love it if the boys could, you know, put it all together to form a decisive victory or two...but, at this point I won't be choosy. Win 'em however possible.
The Blues have been in the news a lot recently. They were victims of a vicious Colorado beat-down a few days ago, surrendering 9 goals to the Avs in Tampa Bay Lightning-like fashion. They were also the fortunate recipients of Brian Burke's McDonald salary dump, sending Doug Weight over to Anaheim in the exchange (great trade from a Blue's perspective, even if Andy is struggling a bit). They've also lost their last 3 games, including the Avs thumping, with the other two being to "lesser" opponents in Edmonton (5-4 S/O loss) and Florida (1-0 SOL).
The recent spate of wins for the Flames has a lot of "good news/bad news" about it. Kipper (and the team-wide defensive play) initially looked like he (it) was back to pre-07/08 form, only to come crashing down to current 07/08 form against Tampa and Carolina. Iginla, Huselius and Langkow have been absolutely stellar since being united, scoring 15 points in the last 3 games alone. In contrast, the rest of the forwards have managed just 4 points during that same span (One of those points being Nolan's empty-net goal). Dion Phaneuf looks lost in his own zone still, but has vaulted into the top 5 in defensive scoring by posting a goal and 6 assists in the last 2 games...
So there's some "yay" and some "nay" about the team still. The "woo-hoo's" are mixed liberally with the "doh's". The Frogurt is free (that's good!) but it's also cursed (that's bad).
From one perspective, it could be claimed that the Flames are finally finding ways to win games at a very important time of the year. The bounces, which have tended to be unkind, are starting to go the other way. On the other hand, there's the possibility that the streak is somewhat illusory: that the club has won a few in a row thanks to some big, improbable and ultimately unsustainable performances by a couple key players and in reality still hasn't sorted out many of it's fundamental faults. I'd like to think (and hope) it's the former, but have an anxious fear that it's primarily the latter. Only time and results will dictate which is truer I guess.
On today's game: Apparently Wayne Primeau will be re-inserted into the line-up at the expense of - wait for it - Dustin Boyd (one of the few forwards not on the a line with Iggy to score a legitimate goal recently). I've been nothing but pleased with Boyd's play since he arrived and think he's more than capable of replacing Primeau's nominal contributions, and then some. What's worse, this portends a return to the minors for Boyd once all the veterans are healthy - bad news for a team that's so in need of secondary scoring. The linked article DOES claim Boyd is hurting from a Wallin hit against the Canes and is sitting out for precautionary reasons. I really hope that's the truth of the matter. But, again, I have my doubts.
Anyways, here's what the bottom-six will look like with Wayne instead of Dustin today:
Primeau - Lombardi - Yelle
Nystrom - Smith - Godard
With Tanguay left to fruitlessly pass pucks to a pair of STONEHANDS in the slot. Sigh. I guess Jarome and co. will have to dominate again.
Go Flames.
