No one likes to trot out the dreaded "finding a way to lose"...but Im going to anyways. There's hardly another way to describe the current Calgary Flames team. Desperately needing a win in Phoenix, the Flames instead turned in a 11 penalty, 15 shot performance. The salt in the wound is the fact that Iginla had a chance to win the game on a late break-away...and missed the net. This squandered opportunity was followed shortly after by Comrie's game winner with just over a minute left to play. So, without much ado, here's the Negatives list first:
- Now that the Penguins have won and Predators have lost, the Flames are working on one of the last league-wide streaks - 12 games with 3 goals or less and counting.
- Speaking of streaks - Jordan Leopold without a point. 12 games and counting.
- 11 PP chances against. Hard to win games when you are shorthanded nearly half the time.
- 15 Shots for. Can't expect to win a game against a goalie like CuJo with only 15 shots.
- 2 PP goals against. While this is hardly bad considering they were down a man 11 times, its still a difference maker.
- 1 Even strength goal in 4 games. Ummm...
- Flames players missing the net. Calgary players in general can't seem to hit the broad side of a barn recently. See: missing the net on a break-away. Also: 15 shots in game. And: 27 goals in 12 games. Etc.
Positives:
- Iginla scores for the second straight game and is on a 5 game point streak. Yay! While this is good news, we now need either someone else to start scoring or Iginla to score 3+ goals per game (it would be orgasmically great if both were to happen).
- 2 for 6 on the PP. Steadily improving. Of course, now Calgary can't score even-strength...
- Play of Philipe Sauve. There were some concerns regarding Calgary's back-up position coming into this season. It's safe to say, however, that he kept his team in the game last night (29 shots against after 2 periods...yikes).
The Flames now travel to San Jose to finish up another not-so-good road-trip. It's hard to know what to expect at this point...but I'd settle for a 6-5 loss quite frankly. The 3 goals or less thing is starting give me nightmares...
