A Solid Outing for a Change
Calgary hasn’t faired well in the eight game stretch against divisional rivals. In fact, their five consecutive losses before Tuesday’s fluke win against Minnesota put them in a tight spot team and standings wise. Keeping your fingers crossed, but it seems the lucky bounces in Minnesota may have been the necessary spark this team needed to move to the next level.
Coming into the game Calgary hasn’t won against Edmonton. This time, in Edmonton, Calgary came out flying. The forecheck was alive all game with the third line of Nystrom-Lombardi-Nolan doing most of the damage all night.
Owen Nolan got things going with his fists, not dropping the gloves, but going after tough guy Stortini in the first two frames. Without taking a penalty Nolan goaded him into a misconduct penalty and later setup Matthew Lombardi on a pretty 2v1 play (after a superb stop from Kipper on the goal line).
Nolan would later get his second goal of the season after some nice down low pressure by the third line. Nystrom had his first two point game; Conroy scored as well (I know, he actually scored….)
The win puts the Flames 4 points ahead of the Oilers going into tomorrow’s game against Vancouver. Kiprusoff will likely get the start since he wasn’t busy tonight.
All around, tonight was a solid effort by the Flames. Defensively Calgary put together one of their best performances limiting Edmonton to just 16 shots all game. Calgary outshot Edmonton 27-16.
The Flames are back at it on Sunday in Vancouver while Edmonton will wait until Tuesday to host the Canucks.
