Turek Stands Tall in Shut Out

Flames Win First At Dome with Flat Effort

October 31st, 2002
Rick Charlton

AP Photo
Rollin Roman: Flames stopper Roman Turek was on top of his game against Buffalo

They won't hang this one in the Louvre but the Flames will take the two points anyway, overcoming one of their more benign efforts of the season in locking up a 3-0 win last night over the Buffalo Sabres.

In a game where the early play looked to be permanently anchored in Calgary's end of the rink, the Flames rode the stellar 30 save shutout goaltending of Roman Turek as well as a spectacular shorthanded marker from clutch man Chris Drury to their first home win in six starts.

Buffalo dominated this contest through the first two periods, the shots sitting at 23-11, Calgary shaking off the rust of a four day layoff, Turek stolidly hanging on in a shooting gallery but the Flames inexplicably up 3-0 on deflection goals by Jarome Iginla and Toni Lydman as well as Drury timely marker late in the second period.

But they won't be marking them for style when April rolls around and certainly the Flames deserved a better fate in games last week against Dallas and St. Louis so we'll chock this one up to the Seinfeldian principle of "evening out" and note Calgary closed the Sabres down in textbook fashion in the third period, something they've been unable to do for much of this early season.

"Did we play our best? No we didn't. But a win is a win," said Flames assistant coach Brad McCrimmon in the Fan960 Hot Stove Lounge after the game.

"We felt we played a strong enough road game to win," said Buffalo's Chris Gratton.

The victory left the Flames at 3-3-2-2 on the year, good for 10 points and in a tie for eighth in the Western Conference with Vancouver.

The Sabres have scored only eight goals in their last six games and probably deserved a better fate in this one except for the work of Turek.

Flames opened scoring only 27 seconds into the game when Toni Lydman's point shot was deflected by Iginla then boinked off Alexei Zhitnik's skate and behind Buffalo starter Martin Biron.

Lydman padded Calgary's lead with his second goal of the year, a point shot that went off Rhett Warriner's high stick and behind Biron at 10:56.

We'll note that Lydman has stepped into the shoes of the departed Derek Morris in spectacular fashion, five points on the year, a plus eight and regularly putting in 25 minutes or more a night.

The Flames were on the ropes again in the second period when Drury was sprung lose on a Buffalo powerplay, speeding in on Biron and batting in his own rebound for a 3-0 Calgary edge at 17:23.

From there the Sabres began to fade and are now winless in their last four.

Biron stopped 14 of 17 shots directed his way.

Both teams were zero for five on the powerplay.

Next up is Colorado and the return of Derek Morris to the Saddledome on Saturday night for an important inter-divisional affair.

 

 

Scoreboard
Calgary Flames 3
Buffalo Sabres 0

Box Score

FLAMES LINES

Gelinas Conroy Iginla
Niedermayer Drury Kobasew
Wright Yelle Clark
Berube Johansson Nichol
 
Lydman Regehr
Gauthier Buzek
Boughner Leopold

OUR THREE STARS

1 Roman Turek - Looked like the Turek of last year, calm in the face of a barrage of chances through two periods. 

2 Toni Lydman - Twenty-five minutes of ice time, + 3, a goal and an assist. 

3 Jarome Iginla - Forget the goal and an assist, the plus two, the 21:54 of ice time . . . . he's found his missing wheels.

SAVE OF THE GAME

With the game 2-0 and the Flames hanging for dear life, Jochen Hecht deflected a pass in the crease onto Turek pads and Denis Gauthier finished the save by knocking Hecht to the ice, preventing an open net rebound marker.

HIT OF THE GAME

Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff felt his heart stopping midway through the first period when Stu Barnes and Tim Connelly flattened each other.

NOTES & STATS

Buffalo has only one goal in their last 35 power play chances . . . .Maxim Afinogenov continues on the sidelines with a concussion problem and worse, isn't getting paid. His concussion came up one day after he had signed his newest contract but before he'd passed his medical to complete the legalities. . . . . . Marc Savard was sent to the press box for unspecified crimes, sparking yet another sniping contest between himself and coach Greg Gilbert through the media. It was hard to tell from this one if the Flames were better off without him although they closed the game down in the third period with a defensive effort that Gilbert must have liked. It should be noted Rob Niedermayer had one of his more aggressive games as a Flame, wiping out Henrik Tallinder in a close call for Hit Of The Game while playing left wing with Chris Drury and Chuck Kobasew. . . . . Jay McKee exploded a pane of glass with his elbow with 3:51 of the first, forcing officials to tag on the remainder of the period onto the second frame. . . . . Robin Regehr was also a plus three. . . . . Alexei Zhitnik led the Sabres with 25:40 in ice time. . . . . . Barnes and Chris Gratton were 61% in the faceoff circle for the Sabres, who were 52% collectively. Flames were led by Drury at 55%.

 

  Calgarypuck.com
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