You wouldn’t have thought the Flames were about to pull off a romp. Considering they were badly outplayed in the first period, not registering a shot until the 10 minute mark. Yes, the road woes continue since it’s impossible for this team to come out of the gate ready to go. Credit somebody, but Godard never lined up against Stortini until the third period, and then, it was too late for anybody to get anybody going. (Make sense? No, Ok, read on though.)
Although being outshot 32 to 23, the Flames were the first to hit the scoreboard, and in fact, they actually managed to pick up on one aspect they’ve been doing well lately–playing sound defence. You would think that playing two games in two nights would slow things down, and it did, but the defensive game was still solid.
Warrener did not play, out with an undisclosed injury, but all in all, the Flames and Miikka pulled off the shut out. Matthew Lombardi got things rolling with 5 minutes left in the 1st displaying some nice patience on the powerplay.
The Flames would answer with two more second period goals, both even strength, displaying their prominence 5v5. Boyd got his second off a lucky bounce, and Tanguay got his 13th off a very nice feed from Huselius. The only bad thing with Huselius and Lombardi playing really well is the fact we’ll need to pay them even more come contract renewal. (Add them to the Phaneuf, Kipper, Regehr list.)
For some reason the Oilers thought they’d get things going muscle wise with 10 minute left to play in the game. A bit late to pull off some momentum swings IMO. When you have Godard on your team you feel a bit taller. I guess Richer doesn’t need to feel tall as he answered a low hit against Yelle with some fists.
Recently called up Stortini for the Oilers was supposed to give muscle to the line up, and although looked like he could skate, managed to rack up 10 minutes worth of penalties for no good reason. He also thought it was wise to challenge Phanuef to a fight off the face off just before rather than fight Godard in an earlier shift. In fact, it appears nobody wanted to fight Godard all night. Smith made it look like he wanted to go early in the first, but he was just trying to draw a penalty. Good on Godard for keeping the gloves on.
A nice win for the Flames in this four point game. They take lead in the NW division and add some more room between themselves and Edmonton. Of course, the rest of the division keeps on winning. Next up, Calgary v Minnesota after the all-star break, that means possible Godard v Booggard again. Look for Jarom to return in 1.5 weeks :P
