Forty might not be
out of the question
after all.
Jarome Iginla
continued his hot pace,
punctuating his case for
staying in Calgary as
the NHL's trade deadline
looms by picking up four
goals, his 25th, 26th,
27th and 28th of the
year as the Flames hung
on to beat the Coyotes
4-2 last night in
Phoenix.
"It was a fun
night out there,"
said Iginla on FAN960
after the game. "I
got a lot of shots.
(They were) shots that
were quality chances and
tonight I got some
breaks that went
in."
Iginla, recipient of
a huge contract in the
off-season, spent much
of the first 22 games of
this campaign with a
variety of ailments, his
production of only seven
goals and overall game a
shadow of its former
self leaving the 25
year-old superstar the
target of frequent
derision and trade
rumours.
Iginla's health has
improved dramatically as
the Christmas break
fades into the rear-view
mirror, however, the
right winger now with 21
goals in his last 35
games and an astonishing
13 goals in his last 10
contests.
On this night he had
10 shots, was a plus
three and logged 21:46
minutes of ice time.
It would be fair to
say Iginla is making a
hard charge to recoup at
least some measure of
respectability from an
otherwise dismal
campaign.
With 19 games
remaining in the
schedule, Iginla has
brought himself at least
within a sniff of
notching 40 on the year,
even though most of
those will have come
with the season already
hopelessly lost.
The obvious puzzle
for Flames coaches and
management to
contemplate at the trade
deadline and through the
summer is how to get the
Flames to win WITH a
healthy Iginla in the
lineup since there
record seems to vary
little whether Iginla is
healthy or not.
The victory stalled
at least temporarily
Calgary's derisive drive
to the bottom of the
NHL's overall standings,
putting the first
overall pick in next
summer's NHL entry draft
on the backburner at
least for one night.
Calgary is now
19-30-10-4 on the season
for 52 points, Buffalo
winners already on the
evening and Atlanta and
Columbus still playing,
the only teams within
spitting distance of
last overall.
|
2003
Draft Watch |
|
If
the draft was held
today ... |
|
Pick
|
Team
|
Player*
|
| 1 |
Buffalo |
Nikolai
Zherdev |
| 2 |
Atlanta |
Marc
Andre Fleury |
| 3 |
Carolina |
Eric
Stall |
| 4 |
Calgary |
Nathan
Horton |
| 5 |
Columbus |
Milan
Michalek |
| *ranking:
McKeen's
2/13/03 |
|
The victory, the
first in seven games for
the Flames, broke
something of a jinx,
only the second time
Calgary had beaten
Phoenix in 22 games,
Flames now 2-16-4 both
at home and on the road
against the former
Winnipeg Jets. It was
Calgary's first win in
Phoenix in 14 games.
The last time Calgary
beat Phoenix, Iginla
also had a hat trick.
This was a rough,
physical affair with two
fights in the opening 25
seconds, Steve Begin
being bloodied and
knocked down by Brad May
and then Bob Boughner
getting the upper hand
on Kelly Buchberger.
As much as Iginla
dominated the offensive
side of the equation
with a power play goal,
a marker shorthanded, an
even strength goal and
an empty net goal,
Flames starter Roman
Turek was equally
effective at the other
end of the rink.
Turek was borderline
sensational with 32
saves, including 16 in
the second period as the
Coyotes dominated.
Perhaps his
inspiration was the
quote in Saturday's
Calgary Herald where
coach Darryl Sutter said
the final 20 games would
be a performance
evaluation to determine
if Turek would be the
number one goalie in
Calgary next year.
So far so good.
Deron Quint and
Ladislav Nagy scored for
the Coyotes.
Both Phoenix goals
came on the powerplay,
among the eight chances
with the man advantage
the Coyotes were
offered. Calgary was one
for six on the powerplay.
Flames generated 33
shots on Phoenix starter
Sean Burke.
Next up is San Jose
tonight, an interesting
date on the schedule as
former Shark coach
Sutter returns to the
Tank for the first time.
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