An eloquent example of the Flames post New Years issues is the fact that they trail the Oilers 3-2 in the season series so far. Is there any other team that's done this poorly against the greasers this year? I doubt it.
The problems afflciting the Flames during this recent bout of futility are obvious: slow starts, bad luck, under-performing top 6 and an ineffective PP (connected to the previous two points, obviously). Iginla and Huselius were an unstoppable duo for about 6 weeks there. Now they can't seem to buy a goal, Iggy's improbable last second game tying marker notwithstanding. Juice has something like 2 points in his last 11. At least one of these guys has to rediscover his mojo pretty quickly if Calgary is to make a serious push for the NW division crown and/or the post-season. There was a brief moment at the end on January where Conroy and Nolan looked like honest-to-god top 6 forwads (in terms of offensive contributions), but they've predictably fallen back into relative impotence.
Also, does anyone else sit down to watch a Flames game with the question "is THIS the game Kipper will get a shut-out?" in their heads these days? It's starting get kind of depressing.
Anyways, Calgary played their worst game of the year against the Oil last week. It was the start of this downward spiral. Perhaps they can get back on track with a convincing win tonight. Flames 5, Oilers 1. Iginla (X2), Lombardi, Huselius and Langkow for Calgary. Horc...err...Sour...uh...Nylander for Edmonton.
