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Welcome to Flames this week (February 8th – 14th)

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Mike Cammalleri won the January segment of the Molson Cup. He was named the first star* in three games and reckoned as a second star** on one occasion. Congratulations Mike! ********************************************************
The first week of February had not been as successful as anticipated for the Flames. Not only did they end their three-game winning streak in Denver; but simultaneously began their losing streak. It has been a while since the Flames have lost four games in a row (two of which were on home ice), which is quite alarming. Yet, on an optimistic note, they are still first in the NW division, and at least 8 points ahead of the Vancouver Canucks. Hopefully, they can maintain this differential as they approach the upcoming four games. For the week of February 8th, the Flames will host one game on home ice and play three games on the road.

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Coming off two away losses Calgary returns home for a brief three game homestand. The last time they came home from a road-trip win versus San Jose, a number of media types were floating the idea around that the Flames were becoming an elite hockey team up in the area of Detroit, San Jose, and Boston. This, however, is premature and simply not the case.

Here are some reasons why the Flames, although very good this year, are not an elite team and may not be an elite team this season....

Top Missing Pieces to the Calgary Flames

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Mike Cammalleri’s second hat trick of the season along with goals from Bertuzzi and Phaneuf enabled the Flames outscore the Buffalo Sabres in a 5-2 victory. This accomplishment had been the consequence of a collective effort: Aucoin, Conroy; Iginla, and Kiprusoff made outstanding plays for these possible connections; the team out shot their opponents 43-27 and the penalty killers killed all but one penalty. Well done Flames!

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“Good teams never lose three in a row” – Scotty Bowman

….and the Flames did win in 5-4 shoot out victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets. In what had been a strange, bumpy, physical night at the Pengrowth Saddledome, they (the Calgary Flames) managed to get the two points – courtesy of Todd Bertuzzi’s lone shoot out winner. In effect, Iginla, Cammalleri (2), and Moss helped the team maintain the game’s pace, while Aucoin, Giordano, Boyd, Sarich set up excellent plays; and, of course Kiprusoff turned aside all the three goals in the shoot out contest. Needless to say, it hadn’t been an easy win in many ways: the Flames had come back from four one goal deficits, there were lots of unpleasantries between the two teams, many penalties - some majors and two man disadvantages… but despite the bumps and grinds, particularly after losing two back to back games, giving up a power play and shorthanded goals, the Flames had persevered….

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Calgary's only participant in this year's NHL All-Star break is captain Jarome Iginla who has a nice article at the official Flames web site here.

[tags]iginla, jarome, jarome iginla[/tags]

Having played two out of three games this past week, the Calgary Flames (27-12-4) won both the two games - one on home ice and one on the road. In the first game against the Blues, they defeated their counterparts by a score of 3-1; capitalized on two power play opportunities and killed all the penalties to extend their statistics to 19.49% and 85.98% respectively. This was their 12th victory versus the Blues; and 7th in a row on home ice. Subsequently, in a physical game at the HP Pavilion, although the Sharks out shot the Flames 35-31, and led by a score of 1-0 and 2-1 consecutively, it was the latter that defeated the #1 team in the western conference division with a 3-2 victory. Furthermore, they were 1/5 on the power play and killed all the penalties including two two-man advantages. Thus, from a fan’s perspective, if the Calgary Flames can beat an elite team twice, what does that infer? Congratulations Flames on your accomplishments!

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Calgary began the second half of their 2008-09 season against St. Louis with a win for their 26th W of the year. In total the Flames have accumulated 54 points before St. Louis, on pace for 108 which would quite the achievement and a far cry from the team fans saw in the first two games of the season.

So half way through what can we say and what should we expect? Will the Flames remain atop of the Western Division? Will they make it through the first round of the playoffs? Are they contenders for the Stanley Cup? Here's our thoughts.....

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The Calgary Flames (25-12-4) will play three games this week – two on home ice and one on the road.

Current standings - They have a home record of 15 wins, 4 losses and 3 ties. Their power play percentage has increased marginally to 18.95% and their penalty killing excels at 85.71% - they have scored 3 short handed goals thus far. Following is the breakdown of their schedule this week:-

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The Calgary Flames played three games this week of which they lost one in Chicago and won two on home ice – the two victories were against the # 1 team in the western conference division, the San Jose Sharks, and against their eastern conference division counterparts, the New York Islanders. Interestingly, all the three games played this week had a 5-2 outcome.

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VIK wants compensation

Apart from Canada's electrifying under-18 win on home ice, the side-story for Flames fans was the possibility touted prospect Mikael Backlund would not return to his home squad and instead stay in North America to play. It seems he is awaiting a decision by the Flames to see where he'd end up, the Kelowna Rockets of the WHL, the Quad City Flames of the AHL, or the NHL squad. Most likely he'll see time in the WHL and AHL. Here's what the media from around the globe has to say:

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