The Leafs just finished upsetting the Sens. I'm tempted to eschew liveblogging the Flames game in favor of discussing the much more interesting and still very alive Maple Leaf play-off drive...
Seriously, though, it'll be interesting to see how Keenan manages the bench tonight. Apparently Huselius was given a "Jason Allison" type role alast game and in recent practice rushes; meaning lots of time with Marcus Nilson and other various stand-ins taking most of his ES shifts.
Also, word is the kids are the scratches tonight (Moss, Boyd, Nystrom), which Im ambivalent about. I'll have more to say about that in light of the performances by the vets - good, then good. bad, then I'll complain. That's the benefit of being an armchair coach/GM/smartass.
FIRST PERIOD -
20:00 - Jarome wins another award. Yay.
19:00 - Nilson starts the first with Iggy and Langkow. Eriksson is back with Phaneuf of course.
18:30 - nothing happening so far. Is that Regher with Vandermeer?
17:30 - Color man talking about Keenan having two options in terms of defensive matches vs. Gaborik: Regehr/Sarich and Phaneuf/Eriksson. Clearly he hasn't seen Bubba play that much.
16:30 - Jarome already looks a little pissed off. Good news.
16:00 - WTF? Vandermeer playing the LW on this shift. Still no Huselius so far...looks like he's relegated to PP duty again this eveing.
15:00 - Godard and Boogaard square off, but the fight lasts about 10 seconds as the combatants tumble and the refs step in. Meh.
Wow...Simon Vs. Vandermeer now. Jimmy stands toe to toe for awhile, but gets fed quite a few hard shots. Decision: Simon.
Have I mentioned I think this vandermeer on the wing stuff is RIDICULOUS?
14:00 - Jarome takes a shift with the 4th line (Nilson/Smith) and they generate the first bit of offensive zone pressure and the first penalty. PP Flames.
Annnd...as expected, there's Juice's first shift.
PP ends with a minimum of chances or pressure. boo.
10:00 - I can't seem to decipher what either coach is doing in terms of matching strategy yet. Seems all over the map.
Haha...the color team talking about the Flames inconsistency. No doubt all for the benefit of Matt.
First Huselius ES shift by my eye half way through the first period.
8:00 - The Conroy/Tanguay line goes out against Gabby et al and totally owns them. Tanguay is flying so far tonight.
7:00 - Kipper with his first big save of the period. On the same play, Regehr pastes Demitra.
6:00 - Boogaard running around, trying to create havok. He runs Phaneuf out of frame and the crowd cheers...meaning, it didn't go well for the Man Mountain. Haha!
Godard highsticks the Boogieman shortly thereafter and the Wild go to their first PP.
Edited to add...the penalty turns out to be BS (stick was "near" his face). call was made due to Boogaard's reaction rather than any actual foul.
5:00 - Best chance on the Wild PP so far goes to the Flames - Tanguay and Nolan create a brief odd-man rush and get an offensive zone draw. Good stuff.
PP ends...Wild didn't get a sniff.
3:00 - ARGH! Jarome sets up Langkow for a break-away, but the puck bobbles and harding poke-checks it away.
1:30 - Nolan and Lombardi pull s nifty little give-and-go deep in the offensive zone and it almost pays off. I've always liked what I've seen between those two, but they've never stuck together.
1:00 - Gaborik gets a good chance off the transition, but Kipper shuts him down.
Pretty even first period. The shots ended up 10-10 and I'd say scoring chances were equal as well. Flames have played a pretty solid game so far...the lack of glaring errors is notable.
2ND PERIOD -
20:00 - Lemaire starts his checking line and Keenan responds with Conroy/Tanguay.
18:00 - Wayne Primeau gets the Flames 2nd penalty of the night. Defensive zone hook.
17:00 - Dion Phaneuf scores what might the goal of year on the PK...coast to coast through the entire Wild team. Out-freakin-standing.
Shades of Gary Suter, for those who remember him in Flames colors.
15:00 - Langkow dekes out Johnsson in the offensive zone and draws a penalty...PP Calgary.
Lots of good puck movement and control on the PP for the change, but the Flames can't cash in.
13:00 - Simon gets called for goaltender interference...unfairly in my view. Sarich pushes him towards Kipper and Simon "hugs" him to avoid knocking him over. Ah well, PP Flames.
Calgary can't get control of the puck even once during the PP and it ends without incident. Blah.
10:00 - Fedoruk runs Kipper, and this time the penalty is deserved. Flames back on the PP. Hopefully it goes a bit better this time.
Kipper with a 5 bell save on a Wild two-on-one! Minny with the only scoring chance during the Flames PP.
7:00 - Two Flames muff a shoot-in...the puck gets by 2 Calgary players in the Minny zone along the boards somehow and results in another two-on-one. The resultant pass from Benoit Pouliot bounces off of sarich and in the Flames net. Game tied 1-1.
As a bonus, the Flames were going to be called for 2 separate penalties on the scoring play (hooking to Primeau again and a too many men)...so the Wild go right to the PP.
6:00 - Luckily Burns boards Yelle, nullifying the Wild PP. Phew.
5:00 - Jarome and Tanguay execute an excellent two-on-one, with Tanguay cutting across and sending a back-hand just over the cross-bar. The Wild turn it back shortly thereafter and get their third extra-man rush of the period. Rolston blasts a shot into Kipper's chest, so no damage done. That said, Flames need to clamp down on these chances off the transition.
2:30 - Eriksson gives the puck away beside his own net and it results in a great wild chance and a great Kipper save. Wild hems the Flames in their own end for awhile.
Huselius gets maybe his 3rd ES shift afterwards.
1:30 - Pouliot scores his 2nd of the period and the Wild take a 2-1 lead. Not good.
0:23 - GOAL - An odd combination of Lombardi, Vandermeer and Iginla take an offensive zone face-off and it results in an Iggy goal. Phaneuf with a shot from the point and Jarome bangs the rebound home. Great response.
Flames get outshot and probably outchanced in the 2nd and are tied due to some strong performances from their better players (Iginla, Phaneuf and Kiprusoff). Still, not a huge difference between the two teams so far and the game could really go either way in the 3rd.
Watching the out of town scores during the intermission here. Dallas losing to LA 4-2 today must have Brad Richards wondering if he's cursed. I mean, the Stars were cruising till he got there and have gone right in the tank since.
I don't think it has anything to do with him, really. Correlation isn't causation in this case. Dallas had a lot of unlikely things going right for them all at the same time - Riberio's career season, Hagman scoring every other game, etc. - and Im guessing some of those things have begun to "come back to earth" recently.
3RD PERIOD -
20:00 - Lomabrdi finished the 2nd and then starts the 3rd...with Owen Nolan on his wing.
19:00 - GOAL - Alex Tanguay feeds Jarome in the deep slot and Iggy buries it. No chance for Harding. 3-2 Flames.
18:00 - Lombardi's unit has a decent shift against Gaborik. That trio has looked as good as can be expected so far tonight.
16:00 - Sarich crushes Chris Simon and gets a penalty. PP Wild.
Wild get the Flames running around, but Kipper makes a big save on a Johnsson shot.
14:00 - Sarich steps out of the box and Fedoruk goes right after him. The players trade blows for a solid minute before being separated, and I think Sarich handles himself pretty well. Instigator on Fedoruk anyone?
Nope...damn. Even-steven.
13:20 - GOAL - Tanguay and Jarome playing together this period and dominating. Jarome bangs home another Phaneuf rebound and scores his natural hat-trick. Fifty is definitely a possibility after tonight.
Crowd responds with an "MVP!" chant. Awesome.
12:00 - Kipper ROBS James sheppard on a good, point blank chance. I don't even know how he got his glove on this shot.
10:30 - Gaborik manages to strip a bouncing puck from Phaneuf deep in the Flames zone, but Kipper comes up big again. The big boys are really showing up tonight.
10:00 - As I typed the above, Kim Johnsson fired one past a screened Kipper. 4-3 Flames now.
Hughson and Simpson keep pimping this angle that the NW Division is (still) relatively low-scoring. It just isn't true anymore, outside of Vancouver.
6:00 - Three straight shifts of play in the Wild's zone. Good stuff. Best chance comes off a Lombardi shot that finds it's way through traffic, but bounces off the toe of Harding's pad.
4:00 - I think I've seen Juice once this period. If the Flames win, it makes me wonder if this type of role is going to continue for him indefinitely.
3:00 - Conroy/Nolan get penned in their own end and Nolan makes a grievous give-away at his own blueline. Luckily, the Wild can't take advantage.
1:30 - GOAL!!! - Yelle strips the puck from Gaborik at the Flames blueline and springs Lombo. Lombardi sprints into the zone and blasts the puck through Hardings legs. Big goal, right Matt ;).
1:00 - The Wild score on a some sloppy defensive zone coverage. Sigh. Nothing's ever easy.
0:00 - Flames Win 5-4! WOOHOO!
Interestingly, Yelle and Lombardi were on the ice of the last minute for the 2nd straight 1-goal lead. Quite the vote of confidence from the coach.
A surprisingly entertaining affair, considering the reputation of the opposition. Calgary did everything they needed to win, although there was still too many defensive zone break-downs for my liking. When your goalie plays as well as Kipper did this evenig and you still give-up 4 goals, something's wrong.
That said, the 2 points are all that matter at this time of the season.
PS - I'd like to thank the Oilers for beating the Avs this afternoon. Much appreciated gents ;)!
