The Saddledome
faithful filed out of
the local arena for the
last time this season
knowing that this year,
like the six before it,
finished with a
scheduled date and not a
playoff performance.
|
| Lowry |
Conroy |
Clark |
| Saprykin |
Drury |
Clark |
| Gelinas |
Yelle |
Donovan |
| Nichol |
Betts |
Sloan |
| Mondator |
Lydman |
| Leopold |
Regehr |
| Mrozik |
Commodore
|
|
At
least they were sent
packing with 23 sweat
soaked hockey jerseys
and another strong dose
of overtime magic as the
Calgary Flames turned
back the LA Kings for
the third time this
season, this time by a
2-1 margin.
It
was the battle of the
depleted an down trodden
- as both the Kings and
Flames were missing key
players and hope for a
playoff showing this
season.
The
Flames walked out a
defensive core consisting
of four players that
have played chunks of
the season in the
American Hockey League,
and two chaperones that
could hardly be
described as National
Hockey League gray
beards.
|
2003
Draft Watch |
|
If
the draft was held
today ... |
|
Pick
|
Team
|
Player*
|
| 1 |
Carolina |
M.-A.
Fleury |
| 2 |
Pittsburgh |
Nathan
Horton |
| 3 |
Columbus |
Milan
Michalek |
| 4 |
Florida |
Nikolai
Zherdev |
| 5 |
Atlanta |
Braydon
Coburn |
| 6 |
Buffalo |
Eric
Staal |
| 7 |
San
Jose |
Andrei
Kastsitsyn |
| 8 |
Calgary |
Anthony
Stewart |
| *ranking:
Red
Line 3-27-03 |
|
In fact,
it was the rookie, Rick
Mrozik playing his first
National Hockey League
game that held the
distinction of eldest
Calgary defenceman, with
a birth year of 1975
compared to that of Toni
Lydman's 1977.
The
Kings jumped on Calgary
territorially, and if
not for the play of the
oft criticized Roman
Turek would have likely
walked away with things.
The
clubs played through a
scoreless first period
before the Flames jumped
on the board in the
second period.
Chris
Clark took the puck up
the half boards, dropped
it to Oleg Saprykin who
fed Steve Montador on
the point. Montador, who
secured his first point
of the season with a
goal against Columbus
last week, fired it at
the net and off of Chris
Drury for the goal. For
Drury it was his 23rd of
the season.
The
Kings tied the score
just over two minutes
later when Ziggy Palffy
completed the sizzle end
of a give and go to blow
the puck past Turek to
make it 1-1.
Both
teams had some good
chances in the third
period but couldn't get
the puck past the duo of
Roman Turek and French
rookie Cristobal Huet.
Calgary
won the game in overtime
when Flame captain Craig
Conroy picked up a
Martin Gelinas board
bounce and flipped the
puck over Huet to give
the Flames the win.
The
victory moves the club
back to one game under
.500 Darryl Sutter with
one game remaining, a
road date with Edmonton
tomorrow night.
