Dallas Stars 3 Calgary Flames 0

Flames Lose Four Straight

Rick Charlton

November 29, 2001

The boos started at the seven minute mark of the first period.

And a Calgary team which had rocketed to unheard of heights earlier this season found itself continuing its startling disintegration with a fourth straight loss, this time to Dallas 3-0 in front of 15,710 last night at the Pengrowth Saddledome.

The Flames were deserving of the ire of their fans after a moribund first period where the visitors were thrown a red carpet direct to Roman Turek's doorstep in building a quick 2-0 lead.

A few weeks ago Flames coach Greg Gilbert warned his Flames they wouldn't be sneaking up on teams after their brilliant start. Although it would be fair to say the Flames have lost the element of surprise as the season advances it is probably also accurate to say that lately the Flames look like a tired team. Their collective speed has disappeared and their game plan of wearing teams down with ample hitting has also fallen by the wayside.

In short, without speed, hitting and a high-energy approach the Flames are mediocre at best.

Dallas popped two early goals in this one and then gave the Flames little as they padded their NHL record since 1999-2000 of 56-0-4-3 when ahead after two periods.

The game marked the first time Flames netminder Roman Turek had lost to a former team in 11 starts. It was also the first time in 14 Saddledome starts this year that Calgary failed to collect a point, falling to 9-1-2-2 on home ice.

Flames are 13-6-4-2 on the season, good for 32 points and fifth overall in the NHL.

Marty Turco got the shutout for Dallas, his second straight at the Saddledome over the Flames.

Benoit Brunet opened scoring at 2:44 when Turek allowed a large rebound and Igor Kravchuk failed to take Brunet's stick out of the play, leaving the newly acquired Dallas winger a chip shop for a 1-0 lead.

A quick snapshot from 20 feet by Mike Modano at 6:48 put the Flames ahead 2-0.

Conroy hit the post short-side on Turco early in the second period and the Flames had opportunities through the period but generally played a perimeter game.

Pierre Turgeon put the Flames away for good with a tap-in from a terrific behind the net pass off the stick of Modano at 11:44.

Calgary was zero for four on the power play while Dallas was one for three.

Dallas out-shot Calgary 20-19.

 

Box Score

FLAMES LINES
McAmmond Conroy Iginla
Lowry Niedermayer Clark
Petrovicky Wilm Wright
Berube Savard Nichol
Regehr Morris
Gauthier Lydman
Kravchuk Boughner

OUR THREE STARS

1) Marty Turco - a workmanlike performance.

2) Mike Modano - dangerous all night.

3) Denis Gauthier - one of the few physically involved Flames.

SAVE OF THE GAME

With the Stars up 2-0 and dominating, Modano had two clean chances at Turek but the Calgary netminder held the fort at a critical moment in the game. For the second straight game Turek kept the score respectable.

HIT OF THE GAME

Late in the first period with the Flames on the ropes, Denis Gauthier drove diminutive Pat Verbeek through the boards with a splendid hip check.

NOTES & STATS

Struggling Rob Niedermayer led all Flames forwards in ice time with 20:46. The surge in ice time seemed to come at the expense of Marc Savard who dropped to a miniscule 6:25, a clear signal to Savard that he needs to pick up his defensive side of the game. Bob Boughner led Calgary defencemen with 22:48 in ice time. Derian Hatcher was on the ice 25:39 for the Stars. . . . . . . Dallas won 52% of faceoffs but their three primary centres, Pierre Turgeon, Joe Nieuwendyk and Mike Modano were all over 50%. On the Calgary side of the dot, Rob Niedermayer was had a success rate of 58%. . . . . . In a fairly tame contest, the Flames had a 26-18 edge in hits, with Hatcher, Gauthier and Boughner leading their respective teams with four each. . . . . . . On CTV Sportsnet, Wayne Gretzky practically promised Jarome Iginla a spot on Canada's Olympic team.

 

 

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