Tonight the Flames will play their 3rd meeting of the season against the San Jose Sharks in San Jose. The first two meetings between the teams were hard-fought games in which the Flames received high praise for playing the "type of system they need to play in order to win" but the unfortunate truth is that both games resulted in losses although the Flames were able to earn one point in their shootout loss in San Jose.

So both were moral victories as the Flames were able to fight one of the more talented teams in the league to a virtual deadlock and show that they may in fact be able to match-up with some of the big boys in the league. To their credit the Flames have also fared well recently against other teams considered in the league's upper echelon like the Canucks, Red Wings, and Blackhawks. The optimist may see this as glass half full. The realist might look at the standings, see the situation the Flames are in and simply state that the time for moral victories is LONG past and the Flames NEED to earn some real victories, accompanied by real points to ensure they even remain relevant in the playoff race.

Although it looked like Alex Tanguay netted a short-handed marker against the Ducks, the penalty had in fact just expired and the Flames remain the only NHL team without a short-handed goal this season. Although they haven't been able to score while down a man, the Flames PK has been outstanding as of late going a perfect 18/18 over their last 7 games.

Miikka Kiprusoff is in search of his 300th win. It would be a special achievement if he was able to earn it against the Sharks who were the team the Flames acquired him from in November of 2003.

Tonight, Jarome Iginla will move into a tie with former Canadiens great Bob Gainey for 114th in all time games played with 1160.

San Jose has won the last 5 meetings between the two clubs with four of the last 5 games being decided by a single goal.

If the Flames want to mount a serious playoff bid, they need to get on a winning streak soon. Their record in their past ten games in 5-3-2, last 5 is 2-2-1. It's no secret, .500 hockey at this point simply won't get the job done. The Flames need to generate wins at a much higher pace if they want to seriously consider being in the post-season.

Have a great day!

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