A seventh consecutive
failed season ended on
several high notes after
a 4-1 Flames victory
last night in Edmonton,
the first time Calgary
has won its final game
in a year since Game 6
of the Stanley Cup
finals in 1988-1989.
The only thing that
might have made the
night better for Flames
fans would have been a
duplication of Calgary
eliminating the Oilers
from the playoff race on
Edmonton ice as they did
last season in similar
circumstances.
|
| Lowry |
Conroy |
Clark |
| Saprykin |
Drury |
Clark |
| Gelinas |
Yelle |
Donovan |
| Nichol |
Betts |
Sloan |
| Mondator |
Lydman |
| Leopold |
Regehr |
| Mrozik |
Commodore
|
|
Darryl Sutter, who
inherited the Calgary
bench at mid-season,
will finish at 19-18-8-1
in his short tenure, the
Flames actually picking
up steam in the last
months of the season, a
point when fans have
gotten used to their
heroes falling flat on
their faces.
Calgary finishes
10-5-3 in March and
April, the best ending
to a season in 11 years
and no doubt a bit of a
relief to those with the
unenviable task of
selling tickets for a
team with the longest
current post-season
drought in the NHL.
Making the strong
finish even more
interesting is the fact
this team could have
easily been wallowing in
its own misery, playing
out the string in
half-hearted fashion as
might have been
expected, certainly the
case for the last seven
years.
A cynic might believe
Calgary only picked up
the pace when the
pressure was off, the
neckties loosening up
when the season was
already hopelessly lost.
An even bigger cynic
might point out that
even lousy teams tend to
have a decent quarter in
any season.
Still, the games get
tougher as the season
moves along, the level
of competition
ratcheting up and the
weak and old being left
by the side of the road.
Nevertheless, the
strong finish by Calgary
does lend some hope to
next year even though it
should be fairly obvious
that a 13th place team
is likely to undergo
more than a few
personnel changes before
the next meaningful game
six months from now in
early October.
The much maligned
Roman Turek turned in
his second straight
exceptional performance,
the Oilers all over the
Flames in the opening
ten minutes of the game
and Turek coming up with
a series of miraculous
saves before Calgary
found its legs.
With a contract and a
reputation that makes
him virtually
untradeable, the Flames
need Turek to answer to
the level of his
compensation and
continue the same level
of play consistently
into next season.
It must have also
been gratifying to
Sutter and upper
management to see the
veterans on this team,
the guys who know full
well when a season is
done early, still
showing up and leading
the charge down the
stretch.
Craig Conroy scored
twice, giving him 22 on
the season, while Dave
Lowry, rescued from purgatory
in Saint John
at mid-season, added
three assists.
Still further good
news was the continued
improvement in the play
of rookie Jordan
Leopold, scoring a power
play goal on this night
and logging 30:48 in ice
time.
|
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 |
Buffalo |
Braydon
Coburn |
| 6 |
San
Jose |
Eric
Staal |
| 7 |
Atlanta |
Andrei
Kastsitsyn |
| 8 |
Nashville |
Anthony
Stewart |
| 9 |
Calgary |
Tomas
Vanek |
| *ranking:
Red
Line 3-27-03 |
|
Not to be outdone,
Robyn Regehr was made
public enemy number one
in this game after a
staunch elbow to the
coconut of Oiler sprite
Ales Hemsky early in the
first period, setting
the Edmonton crew on a
night of revenge based
hockey they'll need to
avoid if they're to have
any hope against
powerful Detroit or
Dallas in the first
round of the playoffs.
The hit turned what
might have been a
desultory end-of-season
affair into a typical
Edmonton/Calgary
punch-up, gigantic
Georges Laraque and the
rest of the Oil going
out of their way to
self-immolate themselves
by taking a series of
ill-considered
penalties.
Flames scored twice
on 10 powerplay
opportunities while
killing five of their
own.
The victory leaves
the Flames at 29-36-13-4
on the season, a
desultory and
disappointing 75 points
but leap-frogging
Nashville, at least
temporarily, into 12th
place in the NHL's
Western Conference.
The loss was the
first in seven games for
the playoff-bound Oilers.
"How we finish
is going to be a strong
indication of how we're
going to start next
year," said Flames
GM Craig Button during a
second period interview
on FAN960.
Flames outshot the
Oilers 36-24 after a
poor start.
Next up is . . . . .
. golf. Or the NHL Draft
in June.
