Felled by a formidable stomach virus, I'd been reduced to projectile vomiting and pitiful moans starting Wednesday afternoon stretching well into Saturday. Thus my absence. I would like to take this opportunity, however, to sarcastically commend my blogmates for keeping this space fresh and witty while I was waylaid (big ol' raspberry to YOU guys).
At least I can be thankful the Flames started winning in concurrence with my invalidity. I was able to take in all 3 contests, though the Preds game in particular was not observed without a degree of discomfort. Being still feverish and wholly dependent upon fluids for sustenance, you can well imagine I mistrusted my senses at first blush when I witnessed Rhett Warrener score the OT goal on Thursday night. Even to an able and sober man, I'm sure that particular victory seemed somewhat unreal thanks to the confluence of unlikely events that conspired to produce it. Not only did the Flames defeat the Nashville Predators (the victors previously in damn near every other contest between the two clubs), but they did so in overtime (an event almost as rare) thanks to a goal-mouth tap in by Rhett "full body injury" Warrener (a wholly unique occurrence). I've been tough on Warrener this year and will probably continue to be so (in fact, he was probably the cause of the 2 Predators goals against that night), but watching him leap around excitedly after the puck trickled past Mason sure did bring a big smile to my face. Not just because I knew the extra point was invaluable to the Flames, but because his near-childish excitement at actually scoring was infectious.
I was a closer approximation to normal during the Hawks game yesterday so there was no need to mistrust my senses. Although, considering it's hideous quality, I would have liked to attribute the first Hawks goal - Vrbata's prayer from the side of th net - to a trick of my digestion. Alas, as real as Warrener's game winner and nowhere near as fun. Another stinker allowed on the road by Kipper. I was heartened, however, by the fact the Flames did seem to be outchancing the Hawks pretty substantially AND that one of the better Calgary forward units seemed to be the Friesen-Yelle-Nilson combination. Having a capable 3rd line is not insignificant, especially on the road where opposition coaches can probe for weaknesses through last change. I would have been satisfied with the Yelle line even if they hadn't scored the tying goal; their tenacious board-work and penchant for boxing the Hawk's in their own zone was contribution enough. That they managed to mar the scoresheet was a bonus in terms of expected performance outcomes. Especially since I had basically written off two of the three members of the unit (Nilson and Friesen) as basically useless.
Up until very recently, Marcus Nilson was looking like the most expendable player on the team thanks to his tentative physical play, lack of mobility and general inability to get anything of note accomplished. I don't know if this recent spate of competent play is some fluke aberration or a long-awaited return to form. Nilson had been a celebrated bottom-six player on the Flames up until his season ending knee injury last year against Dallas. Since his rehab and subsequent re-insertion into the line-up he'd invariably appeared equal parts slow, confused and passive. His defensive presence was sub-par and his offensive contributions, which were infrequent to begin with, sank to non-existent. In fact, He'd almost completely convinced me he was Prust-replaceable (to coin a phrase). But, should this newly minted synergy between Yelle and co. hold, perhaps Nilson can reclaim a degree of his former shut-down glory and therefore delay abdicating his roster spot to a cheap youngster.
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How supremely ironic is it that Joffrey Lupul was the one to score the game-tying goal for the Oilers against Colorado last week? Thanks Joffrey! You are quickly becoming my favorite Oiler.
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Jarome Iginla looks like crap out there right now. Crap. By my eyes, Iginla hasn't been driving the results on the top unit for awhile now - in fact, the most effective forward in the top 6 for the Flames is probably Kristian Huselius, followed closely by Alex Tanguay and Damond Langkow. Iginla, however, has been relatively slow, weak on the puck and unable to take advantage of scoring chances. In his last 8 games, going back to March 10, Iggy has 1 goal and is a minus player, despite averaging over 20 minutes of ice per match. In contrast to earlier in the season, when Iginla and whoever he was playing with were eating any and all opposition for breakfast at ES, the current #1 combo looks downright bland. For his part, Iginla only has 3 ES points during that aforementioned 8 game stretch - none of them goals. Assuming 15 minutes of ES ice per night (it's probably a tad higher), that works out to a figure of 1.5 ESP/60 - hardly elite efficiency and well below his seasonal rate prior to March (approx. 3.5/60). The sample size is small but the resultant number still points convincingly to the "Jarome hasn't been all that good lately" conclusion.
His last Iginla-like performance was, as far as I can recall, the 6-3 loss to Nashville back at the start of the month. He scored two of the Flames goals, the first of which was one of those "how did he DO that?" types. Since then, he's looked bored or frustrated or injured or something. It's no coincidence that the Flames lost to Tampa Bay, Colorado, Dallas and Minnesota and only managed to eke out 1 goal wins versus St. Louis, Detroit, Nashville and Chicago during that stretch. When your top line/best forward are basically toothless at ES, convincing wins are typically hard to come by.
The good news, is, of course we know that he can do better. The bad news is, we don't have any idea what's causing his current struggles. Which also means we have no idea when we can expect him to return to form...
