Keys to the Game - Review

Alright, lets review:

Shut Down Selanne - Fail
Although he was held to 1 assist on the scoresheet, Selanne made the play in the offensive zone as the last seconds of the 1st period ticked away. Instead of going into the intermission up 1-0, the Flames must settle for a tie after 1. A heartbreaking event for the Flames.

Giggy vs. Kipper - Fail
I'm not going to sit and say Kiprusoff played a bad game, after all, he made 37 saves, including many in spectacular fashion in the first and second, however, I thought he let in one softy, and it was arguably the difference in the game. With the Flames having just lost the lead about 3 minutes earlier, Dustin Penner had a step on Phanuef and unleashed a wrister. Kipper misplayed it and the bad angle shot slipped between Kipper's body and arm. I'm calling that play the turning point in the game. Meanwhile, Giguere let in one early in the first and shut the door after that.

Secondary Scoring - Fail
I said that if the Flames were to win someone other than Langkow, Iginla or Tanguay had to show up on the scoresheet. Well the Flames lost and guess whose names were on the scoresheet for the Flames lone goal.

I am officially writing off this road trip as a failure, as determined by the conditions I set here* over at Five Hole Fanatics.

*By tournament I meant roadtrip. Brainfart...

Roman Rule?

Watching that Minnesota/Calgary game last night I was impressed with Calgary's tenacity. This team seems to be more able to comeback from a small defecit compared with earlier in the season. In the first period the Flames did not look good, but the second period brought several positives including Rhettro's shorthanded marker (who would've called a Rhettro goal before the game, especially a SH?). I though Iggy looked possessed, especially after he scored his 300th goal of his career (he's closing in on the recently retired Joe Niewendyk, and the immortal Theoren Fleury.)

John Garret proposed before the game that Roman Hamrlik has been the Flames best defenceman of late, and while I won't go ahead and agree with him, I will say he's played suprisingly well lately. He's been jumping up into the play more often, he's been in better position defensively and it's been showing up in his +/- and the scoreboard (in the sense his strong play is correlated to the Flames success). The other pleasant suprise about Hamrlik is that he's much less overpaid than he was earlier in the season. Given the inflationary rate of defenceman salaries, and given his ice time, Hamrlik right now is, dare I say it, being paid at a fair rate.

Why are the Flames so bad on the road? Someone was saying to me that this is either a testament to Calgary's coaching (in that when the coaching staff are able to get the desired matchups they DOMINATE) or a sad exposition of the coaching staff (in that if they don't get the exact matchups, their poor systems get exposed and they consistently lose).

Obviously there are other explanations, (like maybe the players are totally spooked about playing on the road and they're gripping their sticks), but its an interesting theory.

And what about Kiprusoff and shootouts? How can a goalie be so good during the game, and so bad at shootouts? Look, a lot of times the shots Kipper faces in the shootout are next to impossible to save, but he needs to find a way. Speaking of, Calgary's shooters need to find a way to put the puck in the net.