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Should
auld acquaintance ...
Flames
and Habs Tie the Knot on
New Year's Eve
December
31st, 2002
D'Arcy McGrath
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AP Photo |
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Flying Oleg: Oleg
Saprykin jumps in the air to avoid a hit from Montreal's Ron
Hainsey.
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New
Year's Eve is known for
many things.
You
can never find a taxi
cab.
You
have/get to neck with a
gaggle of strange women.
You
have to pretend to know
the words of Auld Lang
Syne when you know, if
asked, you couldn't even
spell the title.
And
on most years ... the
Calgary Flames host the
Montreal Canadiens.
A
decade and a half ago
the festive matchup
featured two
juggernaughts. The
upstart Flames from the
West, and the defence
first, Patrick Roy led
Habs from the East.
The
best versus the best to
roll in a New Year. These
days, well things have
changed. Out west the
Calgary Flames are going
through coaches faster
than Badger Bob used to
go through note pads or
kleenex. The
Montreal outfit has some
similarities - a French
Canadian star in the
nets, a defence first
mentality, to name a
few, but generally the
Habs get out played most
nights and hand on for
points. Glory
to sorry? Seems that
way. On
this night however, the
paying customer got what
they came for, in a
relatively spirited 1-1
tie to bring in 2003. The
two teams played to a
draw in the first
period, with Montreal
out shooting the Flames
by a 11-9 margin. The
second began with a
Calgary goal when Chris
Clark took a Denis
Gauthier pass and went
in alone on Theadore,
deftly sliding a
backhand into the cage
for a 1-0 lead. Ten
minutes later the
Canadiens tied the score
when Richard Zednik got
his stick on a Patrice
Brisbois flip at the
net, tipping the puck
past a startled Roman
Turek. That
was it for the scoring. From
that point on it was
defence first hockey and
solid goaltending
providing the show for
the fans, as the two
clubs ground out a draw. The
tie gives new Flames
coach, Darryl Sutter a
1-0-1 record in two
games with Calgary. It
also moves the team's
record on this pivotal
five game homestand to
1-1-1 with the Tampa Bay
Lightening and Minnesota
Wild still to come. The
Lightning were pounded
in Ottawa earlier this
evening. From
the Montreal point of
view a tie continues
their winless skid on
this marathon road trip
as the Habs now have a
0-2-1-1 record through
four of their seven
games on this jaunt. The
Flames out shot the
Canadiens by a final
mark of 31 to 24
including a 15-8 edge
through the third period
and overtime. Incredibly,
that marks the 17th
straight game in which
the Habs have been out
shot contributing to the
fact that Montreal
chapter sits last in
both shots for and most
shots allowed league
wide. The
point gained moves the
Flames out of a tie with
Nashville in the Western
Conference cellar and
into a tie with Columbus
for 13th place. Montreal
remains up two points on
Pittsburgh and Carolina
for the 8th and final
playoff spot in the
East.
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