Game 27: Flames march to New York to visit the Rangers next
Welcome to Hockey night in Canada as the West meets the East
Yes, the boys did it again! A dramatic comeback last night gave the Flames the much needed two points. It had been difficult per se; but the two goal deficit did not deter the feisty bunch. More importantly, the hybrid Synergy drive (Cammalleri) set the Blues on fire with a 4-3 overtime win. With this determination, the Flames march for their second of the road to meet their next contestants, the NY Rangers.
Having relinquished their momentary disillusionment, the Flames are showing their true colors in terms of the comebacks, the power play performances and perfect teamwork. Come this time last year, the Flames had had a successful road trip winning six games in a row. Can an identical performance be accomplished again?
Realistically speaking, this road trip will be tough for the Flames to combat because from a statistical perspective, the Rangers rank second in the eastern conference and have a record of 11-5-0 when playing at home. Their power play percentage may be slightly lower than the Flames; but since their penalty killing record is 90.9%, it might make scoring on the power play quite difficult for the visiting team. In comparison, the Calgary Flames rank 5th in the western conference and are 6-6-0 on the road, and this seems to be quite a significant difference. Nonetheless, the Rangers have played 29 games already while the Flames are playing their 27th game. Thus, stats may only be consistent with the number of the games played.
Leaving the statistics aside, the comeback against the Blues demonstrated that the fearless Flames had the tenacity to make the Blues see green – the intensity to outshine their opponents was certainly apparent. Keenan’s line juggling seemed to work wonders as players worked cohesively to put the puck in the net to confuse their opponents. More importantly, the Flames’ defence also pitched in to score – Phaneuf had added a touch of spice in all the four goals scored on Friday. Wow, that was an awesome performance!
The bottom line? A win at a time will be sufficient to keep the Flame burning.
Wondering about the wardens? Catch it live as the West meets the East on Sunday, December 7th on the Sportsnet (SNET-W) at 5:30 p.m. The talented Voice of the Flames and his flamboyant commenter will be aired on the Fan 960.