If you failed to catch the Flames game last night, you missed perhaps the strangest contest since...I honestly can't think of a historical comparison.
Disallowed goals, short-handed break-aways, multiple 5on3's, baffling officiating, terrible goaltending, shoddy defensive coverage, a multi-goal night for Craig Conroy. The liveblog added an element of wackiness with Miikka Kipprusoff**, Andrei Taratukhin**, an Aussie, someone from Japan and a Nasvhille Predators fan all stopping by. Pure. Insanity.
**Ostensibly
Like the Penguins before them, the Flames nearly surrendered a five goal lead in this game. On the other hand...the Flames had a five goal lead in this game. I dont know whether to feel good or spit on the ground in contempt.
The good stuff - the Flames top six, maligned by me to date, erupted last night and completely dismantled the Preds defense. Conroy laughed in the face of my continued criticism by scoring two goals and orchestrating another. Todd Bertuzzi added three assists while Iginla ran his point total against Nashville to seven through two games. Incredibly, Iggy is now third in the NHL in scoring, despite being fairly ho-hum at ES all year.
The bad stuff - The Flames actually lost the special teams battle last night. They surrendered two 5on3 goals against and, for the hell of it, allowed a couple of short-handed goals in the third period to boot.
Adrian Aucoin will henceforth be known as "shinpad", due to his propensity for directing pucks into obvious blocks. He was fairly abysmal last night all around. It was his mis-fire and hook that led to Fiddler's SH penalty shot goal as well.
Most concerning? Miikka Kiprusoff has returned to sucksville after a brief hiatus. He allowed 6 goals on 15 shots in the last two periods last night. Some, he couldn't be faulted on. Others would have been stopped by a stick laid across the plain of the crease.
Kipper has now allowed 10 goals in two games against the likes of Nashville and Phoenix. Probably 40% of the goals scored on him over that span were stoppable pucks. He is now 23rd in the league in terms of SV% and his GAA is an ugly 3.14. You can argue that he's probably tired and you can argue that the team in front of him hasn't been great so far. At some point, though, the buck has to stop with the $8.5M goalie.
The bad news is, the schedule gets harder from here on out and the club isn't going to get much better. The Flames have played precisely one (potentially) elite team through the first four weeks (ANA) and Kipper's stats are shit. I thought he had regained his form during the 6 game streak, but his recent performances and overall numbers cast doubt upon that theory. Im back to thinking that his actual form is *this* while the few games of stellar play was the aberration. Even Peter Budaj has been player of the week.
Overall, Im still not sure how to feel about this game. I'd like to celebrate the win and the 7 goals for, Iginla's breaking out, etc. But I also know that a 5 goal lead should NEVER develop into a white-knuckler.
Whatever. Take the two points and move on. Don't watch the tape. And for God's sake, put Curis MceLhinney in net this weekend.
