The Flames - and Iginla himself - looked awful for the first half of the game. In fact, they were probably lucky to be down by three at that point (Nashville hit iron twice in the first). Then came the rush, the head fake and the blocker-side snipe that initiated the come-back. After Iginla was done in the third, even Craig Conroy was +3 (although he took two terrible penalties earlier in the night, one leading to Arnott's goal).
There were some negatives to the night, no question. The poor discipline was the big one, resulting in two separate and lengthy 5on3 disadvantages, as well as, you know...falling behind by 3 in the first place.
Still, I've decided to wave the pom-poms for this one. Despite giving up 38 shots, the Flames actually out-played the Preds at ES in terms of shots at the net (+14) and goals (3 vs 2). Also, take a look at ESPN's groovy shot chart:
As you can see, Nashville only managed to get 3 of their 38 shots from inside 15 feet. The Flames, in contrast, had 6 at 15 feet or closer (with Cammalleri's goal coming at 16 feet). Taken with the corsi numbers, this means that a vast majority of the shots against came a.) during the PK and b.) outside the most dangerous "scoring area" on the ice. That's good. And even though Calgary only really played about 20 minutes of worthwhile hockey and spent too much time in the box, they doubled the Preds shot output from the close in. Imagine what a full game of Jarome playing like Jarome would yield...
There's still areas for improvement, naturally - the curious tendency to SUCK in the second period and the continual march to the penalty box are hobbling weaknesses, currently. However, now that Iginla's back (I assume) and Kipper looks like an NHL starter again (doesn't he?) the hike back up to respectability doesn't seem so steep.
