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In true Calgary fashion, after two troubling losses, the Flames battled back against a top team and came out with a 4-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks. This was a big win for the Flames; they outplayed the 1st place team in the Northwest in front of the hometown crowd…and I don’t want to hear about excuses that Vancouver arrived late ;).
Somehow, the home crowd got McGrattan in trouble in his first start for the Flames. After going toe to toe with Tom Sestito, he saluted the crowd, and was assessed a 10-minute misconduct and a 5 minute major. Not sure I agree with this call…don’t particularly see any harm in getting the crowd excited, provided it’s not over the top.
Although I erroneously wrote that MacDonald would start against the Canucks, it was Danny Taylor between the pipes for the Flames and he earned his first NHL victory stopping 29 shots. It was great to see Calgary battle in front of Taylor and hopefully the next battle will be in front of Kipursoff who is expected back very soon.
Iginla proved once again that his drought is over after adding another goal for 5 in the last 4 games. Iginla’s goal tonight puts him passed Theo Fleury on the all time point leaders at 1089 career points. If he can continue to produce to this level, the Flames might be able to start turning their season around for the better. The Flames currently sit 12th overall in the Western conference, only four points behind 4th. It’s still a very close race as we approach the midway point to this season, and a few teams around the Flames have one/two more games played than them.
When Iginla plays well, Cammalleri’s level seems to improve as well as walked away with two goals. One of which was fed by Matt Stajan who has really become a valuable player for Calgary’s offense as he sits at +8 overall, better than any other Flame. He’s not the only player stepping up on offense; Hudler has had 5 assists in 2 games and has 15 points in 17 games. He was arguably one of the best players on the ice for both teams last night. Stempniak also had a two point game, taking home a goal and an assist.
Defensively the Flames played a lot more consistently and were able to neutralize the Sedin brothers, even forcing Daniel Sedin to take two penalties. Boumeester and Wideman got involved offensively recording three and two shots on net, respectively. Overall the blueliners showed a great improvement in both ends of the ice.
Vancouver head coach Alain Vigneault would have you believe the Flames victory was a gift from the referees, after Stajan got an elbow up on Chris Tanev and an upset Vigneault took a bench minor. But last night Calgary proved they could battle in the 3rd period and though they were outshot in the 1st and the 2nd, they pushed through by outshooting Vancouver 9-8 in the 3rd. Their 3rd period inability has been their Achilles heel all season, so winning in the 3rd is a win for the Flames in and of itself.
While it remains to be seen if Calgary will make a run for the playoffs, tonight’s game does prove one thing, Calgary is not going down without a fight. Given their inconsistencies so far it’s still too early to say which way they are leaning to date…push for playoffs, or push for draft picks.
The team will get two days off to rest and prepare for their next match up, as they place host to the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday.
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