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Powerhouse
Blues Hand Lowly Flames
Defeat
Blues 3 � Flames 2
(SO)
Daniel
Lemmon
January 30, 2006
Second
game of a back to back,
last game of a five game
road trip and the
competition is the dead
last in the NHL, traded
the two top scorers in
the last 24 hours, no
name player made up St.
Louis Blues. So the
Flames did exactly what
you�d expect them to
do. Took the second
point, shot it twice in
the knees and lit it on
fire for all to gawk at
in horror.
On
The Line
What
was on the line? Only
holding off the ever
present tough
competition in the
NHL�s Northwest
division, the chance to
deliver a debilitating
blow to the NHL�s by
far worst team, and the
chance for stats
padding�I guess the
Flames forgot to write
that on the board.
The
Flow
Question:
What was this game like?
Answer: Like a
Ford small-stars
intermission game�but
slower. You know it�s
not going to be a good
night when the St. Louis
Blues out work you. Only
a Flames team that loves
to mystify its faithful
fans could come out
slower, as inconsistent
and as sloppy enough to
let the Blues beat them.
Be it the missed passes,
the lack of fore-check,
the fact that a single
line couldn�t repeat
the effort of a previous
good shift, this game
was ugly�I would have
turned it off if I
didn�t have to write
it up.
Three
Stars
1
� Curtis Sanford.
Considering the
powerhouse that makes up
the Blues team the fact
that the Flames stunk
doesn�t register to
me. Right off the bat,
when making a
spectacular save off of
Kristian Huselius,
Sanford saved the game
for the Blues. Perhaps
if Beetlejuice had
scored on that play the
Blues might have packed
up and let the Flames
have their way with
them�or not.
2
� Jay McClement.
Got
the Blues started on the
comeback scoring his
team�s first goal that
immediately gave life to
the bottom feeders.
3 � Doug Weight.
For getting the heck out
of St. Louis to play for
a decent team.
Big
Hit
Quote the Roger
Millions: �Rhett
Warrener with a
perfectly executed
hit.� Yes the Bumper
to Bumper �Bump of the
Night.� It was frankly
lame, but what wasn�t?
Big
Save
Definitely this one has
to go to Curtis Sanford.
As I mentioned above, if
he doesn�t stone
Huselius early in the
first period�the Blues
might not have won�or
not.
The
Goat
I love Darryl Sutter and
Jim Playfair and
tolerate the jokes made
about Rich Preston�s
mumbling, but when your
team is unable to come
out and play in the
second game of a back to
back where the travel is
nothing, the competition
is nothing, and you
haven�t managed to win
both games of the back
to back all season, I
lay the blame on the
coaching staff.
Seriously guys, how can
you not motivate your
players to take a team
like the Blues and make
them beg for mercy?
HOW?!
Mr.
Clutch
Curtis Sanford. Timely
saves, aforementioned
game breaking saves, and
holding out in the
shootout. Here�s
you�re mister clutch!
Odds
and Ends
If you can�t say
anything nice, you
shouldn�t say anything
at all. So I won�t
really talk too much
more about this one.
Rarely are there games
where I wish I could
turn it off and check
the score later, but man
was this one of them.
After the second period
I couldn�t help but
think that only the
Flames could do this to
me, or perhaps the
Vancouver Canucks, and
let a game like this
slip away.
Congratulations are due
to rookie defenseman
Mark Giordano who
stepped into his first
NHL game and promptly
played 14 minutes of
fairly solid hockey.
Expect to see a lot more
of Giordano and Richie
Regehr as Roman Hamrlik
is sidelined again for
another month after
suffering a broken hand
in yesterday afternoons
tilt with the Blackhawks.
Talk about bad luck! In
my last game takes I
commented that Jarome
Iginla had finally been
found, thought that was
even more the case after
the start of the road
trip, sadly he�s once
again faded into
obscurity. Getting an
assist on a fortunate
bounce out to Marcus
Nilson didn�t make up
for the fact that the
captain was largely
invisible tonight, and
as John Garret astutely
pointed out is not
driving to the net. Get
with the program Jarome.
In other NHL news
Canucks defenseman Ed
Jovanovski will miss the
Olympics due to surgery
on his troubled
groin/abdomen; this
opens a spot for Maple
Leafs (lack of) defence-man
Bryan McCabe on the Team
Canada roster. Should
another member of the
Team Canada defence
squad succumb to
injuries our lord and
saviour The Dion Phaneuf
is a likely candidate to
head to Turino. Flames
fans all know about the
glory of The Dion
Phaneuf and his dividing
my zero capabilities so
I don�t need to extol
them. For more fantastic
tales of our hero check
out the �I can�t
stop talking about Dion
Phaneuf� thread that
consistently makes its
way back to the main
page.
Next
up � A trip
back home (thank you) to
face the Blue Jackets
(uh thank you?). Game
starts at 8 PM MST (TAKE
NOTE) and you can listen
to Pierre McGuire fall
over himself to praise
The Dion Phaneuf (as he
should) on TSN. Also
available in high
quality AM sound on the
Fan 960.
Lines
�
Reinprecht � Lombardi
� Invisible
Huselius � Langkow �
Amonte
Kobasew - Yelle -
McCarty
Simon - Nilson �
Donovan
Leopold - Regehr
Giordano - Phaneuf
Ference - Warrener
Kiprusoff
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