The Calgary Flames were touted by many to win the cup, but quite frankly, they’re currently one of the worst teams in the NHL. It appears the team is content with the ‘1 game on 1 game off’mentality as they were badly beaten by a team that is truly one of the league’s best.
The Flames did make it a game, a boring one at that, for the first period, but surrendered a late goal that gave San Jose the lead. Many blown opportunities including open nets and countless powerplays contributed to a game that lacked contniuity and energy. The kind of effort exhibited was akin to game seven of last year’s playoffs, a hard sight to watch for sellout crowd (albeit the lower bowl continues to be one of the quietest in the league who really aren’t concerned on average about what goes on on the ice.)
For some reason the Flames lacked urgency all game and only showed intensity with 2 minutes left when Alex Tanguay got his first as a Flame. But that was far too little too late, as the Flames were embarassed at home and managed only 1 goal on 11 powerplays. Their 3 high/3 on the same wing is both by design and a sign of lack of communication–I place this one on the coaching staff.
Let’s break this game down by each player.
Kiprusoff – average but one can’t fault him for the 4 goals, bad defensive coverage all game attributed to the loss.
Amonte – Still banging and crashing but not doing much else, looking like the old Amonte unfortunately.
Ference – Good in his limited play, should have played more perhaps since the top 4 were terrible.
Friesen – Caused the first goal with lazy play and wasn’t sharp all night. He could still use some more ice time though.
Giordano – Not bad in limited play, not much expected, not much done.
Probably the best Flames d-man, but that’s not saying much today. Played 24:17 and was -1
Huselius – Set up some nice plays and nearly potted a few, was put on the top line after the second, still needs to get off the boards on the PP.
Iginla – Continues to lead by example, but honestly Iggy, I thought you trimmed down so you wouldn’t have to hang out on the side boards… Drive to the net guy.
Kobasew – Do you have zero leg strength? He’s looing like a 20 goal scorer but needs to play more and show some more balance.
Langkow – Pretty average night missing an open net that could have changed the game. Way more must be done if you’re a top C man. Tell me, why do they put the shortest Flames in front of the net for PP? That’s why we don’t score.
Lombardi – Showed flahses of brilliance, still hasn’t scored.
Lundmark – Hardly played, took a dumb penalty, but was playing the point for PP in the 3rd and did alright.
McCarty – We have 4 capable lines but Playfair only wants to p lay 3. As such Mccarty rarely plays only logging 4:42minutes. His first shift was horriable but at least he brings some intensity.
Nilson – Regular checking night with only 12 minutes of play.
Phaneuf – Played one of his worst games IMO. Is useless on the PP, only offers the shot, limited passing skills right now. His defensive vision is really bad, has been for a while, and he needs to paly a lot less.
Regehr – Not bad, but if he’s the number 1 d man he needs to paly it. Thornton and Cheechoo manhandled him.
Tanguay – Average again despite one goal, the system needs to help this guy out cause dump and chase and shoot from the point doens’t compliment his skill set.
Yelle – Typical night from sandbox, but why is he playing 17 minutes? Shows you how the rest of the offensive forwards were doing today.
Zyuzin – Had a few bad shifts giving the puck away but largely played average.
That wraps up my analysis, quite frankly the Flames will loose all their road games if they don’t bring up their intensity. With a little more skating they’ll be just fine. Next up is Ottawa Thursday, that game is on PPV.
