Through the first two
thirds of this abysmal
2002-03 season slow
starts were pretty much
par for the course game
in and game out.
So you can forgive
many Vancouver Canucks
and St. Louis Blues for
not coming out of the
gates with their
"A" games
through this Alberta
Family Day long weekend.
On Saturday the
Flames took the play to
the Vancouver Canucks,
out shooting their
British Columbia
visitors to the tune of
17-6 and escaping with a
1-0 first period lead.
On Monday night in
Misourri it was pretty
much the same thing.
The Flames came out
of the gates storming in
St. Louis, a matinee
game south of the border
on President's Day,
scoring twice in the
game first three and a
half minutes.
Jarome Iginla scored
on the game's first shot
when he beat former
teammate Fred Brathwaite
from just out side the
circle with a wrist
shot.
The goal continued a
stellar run for the
season slumping star, as
he collected his seventh
goal in his past eight
games. Iginla managed
nine goals in the first
half of the season, but
has scored eight through
seven games in February.
|
2003
Draft Watch |
|
If
the draft was held
today ... |
|
Pick
|
Team
|
Player*
|
| 1 |
Buffalo |
Nikolai
Zherdev |
| 2 |
Atlanta |
Marc
Andre Fleury |
| 3 |
Calgary |
Eric
Stall |
| 4 |
Carolina |
Nathan
Horton |
| 5 |
Florida |
Milan
Michalek |
| *ranking:
McKeen's
2/13/03 |
|
Two
minutes later the Flames
were back to double
their lead, scoring
again on a powerplay,
with defenceman Toni
Lydman doing the honours.
The
early two goal lead was
interesting in how the
rarity was handled.
Good
teams, contending teams,
playoff teams are often
able to shut the door,
take less chances and
bore the heck out of the
enemy fans in salting
away a victory. Teams
that struggle to play
systems consistently
just can't, and the
Flames predictably
failed to force their
game on the Blues.
Just
over a minute after the
Lydman goal the Blues
brought the game back to
2-1 when Pavol Demitra
notched his 22nd of the
season.
Calgary
bounced back however,
when Blake Sloan beat
Brathwaite to restore
their two goal lead.
From
there it was all St.
Louis.
Keith
Tkachuk scored with five
minutes to go in the
first, then again just
three minutes into the
second to turn a 3-1
Calgary lead into a 3-3
tie.
The
bleeding didn't stop
there.
Tyson
Nash scored the eventual
game winner when he
tipped in an Al MacInnis
slap shot eight minutes
later.
Then
with 30 seconds to go in
the second period,
Demitra salted things
away with his second of
the night on a Blues
powerplay.
The
two teams failed to hit
the scoreboard in the
third leaving the final
5-3 St. Louis.
Get
Your
Calgarypuck
Gear!
