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Ugly
Streak Ends
Flames 5 - Blackhawks 3
D'Arcy
McGrath
January 29, 2006
One
of Darryl Sutter's
mantras for his Calgary
Flames team has been to
stop 2 game losing skids
from becoming 3 or 4 or
worse. After 2 very sub par
efforts in Denver and
Chicago to close out
last week, the locals
were facing just such a
scenario in a rare
matinee game on Sunday
afternoon. With the
Chicago Blackhawks
providing the opposition
for the second
consecutive game, and
the Hawks holding an
edge in the season
series at the beginning
of Sundays tilt, it was
imperative that Calgary
come out and assert
themselves on a fragile
Hawks team.
With
the return of Roman
Hamrlik to the team on
Thursday, the Flames
were icing their full
blueline core for only
the 2nd time in the last
20 or so games. They are
the glue that keep the
Flames together and
provide a good chunk of
the secondary scoring.
When they are going
well, the Flames win,
when they aren't, the
Flames don't win as
much. Sunday they passed
the test and showed what
a difference they can
make for the Flames
club.
On
The Line
The
psyche of the team as
well as reclaiming 1st
place alone in the ultra
tight NW division and
more importantly ending
the aforementioned 2
game losing streak. With
Colorado, Vancouver and
Edmonton all making up
some ground in the past
few days, it was
important to win this
one not just for
standings sakes, but to
keep the team confident
that they are the best
club in the division.
The
Flow
With
3 goals in the first 78
seconds of the game,
this one started out
looking like a replay
from 1985 when games
were often in the 7-5
range of final scores.
The problem with that
stems from the fact that
the Flames are simply
not built to play run
and gun hockey. Looking
like they were still
sleeping in their $300 a
night downtown Chicago
hotel rooms for the
first 20 minutes, it was
a very ugly start for
the hometown Flames and
they dug themselves a
large hole. After
getting a late goal in
the 1st period to climb
back into the game, they
came out flying in the
2nd and beyond and
dominated the lowly
Hawks right til the
final horn sounded as
evidenced by the Hawks
getting only 9 shots on
Kiprusoff in the final
40 minutes.
Three
Stars
1
� Roman Hamrlik.
The
Olympic bound defenseman
showed why his boss went
out and signed him this
past summer and made him
the 2nd highest skater
on the Flames team.
Scoring a key late 1st
period goal and adding 2
assists while logging 20
minutes of ice and
finishing at a +2 for
the game, the big Czech
was the best player on
the ice all night.
2 � Stephen
Reinprecht.
The oft
maligned pivot was all
world like this
afternoon, and at both
ends of the ice while
playing the left side
with Lombardi and Iginla
who were awful early on.
Scoring the tying
goal in the second
period with a wicked
slapper from 20 feet
out, he earns some kudos
for one of the few times
this season.
3 � Dion Phaneuf.
Looking a tad
tired early on in this
game, the D-train woke
up and began to remind
people why guys like
Mike Brophy are
considering the rookie
for accolades such as
the Norris trophy. With
his patented bullet shot
finding the twine late
in the 2nd on the PP, he
added an assist to
complete a very good
night at both ends of
the night.
Big
Hit
Really this game was
devoid of the really big
hit, but there were
plenty of solid ones. In
giving the nod to
Chicago defenseman Jim
Vandermeer for catching
Tony Amonte at the Hawks
blueline and almost
depositing the veteran
forward into the Hawks
bench with a solid body
check.
Big
Save
With 5 minutes to go in
the 3rd period and the
Flames buzzing the Hawks
in Chicago's end, Adam
Munro absolutely stoned
Jarome Iginla from 5
feet out.
The
Goat
This is a tie between 4
guys. Leopold, Regehr,
Iginla and Langkow were
absolutely brutal on the
first Hawks goal.
Literally all 4 of them
stood around and watched
the puck move around and
then end up in the back
opf the net. Only
Reinprecht on that shift
seemed to be trying to
defend. Frankly it was
embarrassing after the
previous shift had
provided the Flames with
a 1-0 lead.
Mr.
Clutch
Roman Hamrlik and the
Flames PP were neck and
neck for this title
today, but again the big
Dman gets the nod for
his goal late in the 1st
period. With the Flames
wondering what truck had
hit them early on and
fighting to try and get
back into things,
Hamrlik took advantage
of a poor decision by a
couple Hawks players to
go for a change. Finding
some open ice at the far
boards, he took a pass
from Phaneuf and curled
into the Hawks end
before unleashing a
hellish
wrist shot that
had Munro wondering what
he thought he just saw.
The timing of the goal
as much as its artistic merits,
was critical for getting
the club back into the
right frame of mind.
Odds
and Ends
The
Flames and the Hawks
have now completed their
season series with each
team winning twice, once
at home and once on the
road. Calgary will be
happy to say goodbye to
them until next year as
the Hawks gave them fits
in every game....Calgary
now sits at 30 wins on
the season. This is only
the 2nd time in the
teams history that they
have achieved the 30 win
mark before the end of
January. The last time?
1988-89. That season
ended on a pretty good
note....Flames are now
14 games over the .500
mark with a bit of a
softer schedule coming
up than what they have
faced the first 51
games.......Nice to see
Chuck Kobasew score in
consecutive games. For a
while this year one had
to wonder if or when he
would ever see his
potential reached. Looks
like he is on his
way....Robyn Regehr took
a puck to the face and
ended up with 26
stitches for his effort,
but he kept the puck in
on the play!!....The
Flames were clobbered in
the faceoff circle after
losing 56% of the
drops......Uber rookie
Dion Phaneuf led the
team in icetime with
almost 23 very hard
minutes played......The
team was also credited
with 10 blocked shots.
This is where some stats
get so mucked up as I
counted nearly double
that. Off-ice officials
vary wildly from city to
city and that skews the
stats......Chris Simon
saw less than 8 minutes
of ice, but was
effective a few times
using his size and
wearing out the
oppositions dmen. That
being said I have to
believe he will not
finish the season in
Calgary.....The Flames
PP finished at an
exceptional 50%, while
the PK was very good as
well, surrendering only
1 goal on 7 Hawk man
advantages...
Next
up � Tomorrow
night at the Savvis
Center in St. Louis for
the first of 4 games
against the Blues.
Lines
-
Reinprecht- Lombardi-
Iginla
McCarty- Yelle- Kobasew
Simon-Nilson- Donovan
Huselius-Langkow-Amonte
Hamrlik-Phaneuf
Leopold-Regehr
Ference-Warrener
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