Calgary arrived in San Jose late in the night to prepare for their second game in as many nights. The line-up would change only slightly with Primeau getting back in and Boyd sitting out (possibly to be sent down soon?) The Flames, despite their turnaround, came out quickly and drew first blood early.
One minute in Alex Tanguay broke in 2on1 with Iginla and–get this–shot the puck to score his 10th of the season one-a-game Lombardi contributed his usual hooking penalty. Funny, that the fastest player on the ice takes the most hooking penalties on the team. His penalty gave SJ their first goal that tied things up at 1.
Half way through the season Jarome Iginla has 30 goals (including the second goal in tonight’s goal). He’s on pace for 60–a banner year for the league MVP. Vincent Lecavalier league’s best? Haha.
San Jose took control of the game in the second. Late in the second Calgary went back to their old game of “let’s not clear the puck” and paid for it with a late second period goal. Phanuef couldn’t clear the zone or the front of the net and the home team tied things up going into the third. A delay with 3 minutes left gave the Flames a chance to regroup; after two periods of play SJ took 27 shots on net.
If there’s one thing the Flames have done consistently it’s not panic/come out strong when trailing or loosing momentum. In the third Calgary tried to regain some of that big M but it was nothing doing. For the better part of the third the Sharks hemmed Calgary in their own end, the rest of the play was in the neutral zone. Calgary only manage 4 shots on goal in the third, but mind you, SJ only had 7.
You got the feeling that late in the third Calgary would be lucky and happy with one point. The team got their wish as the final buzzer went and the OT period loaded up. Despite dominance for the better part of 40 minutes, SJ seemed to coast into the OT and the Flames found their feet again.
The final play of the game actually saw two defencemen lead the rush with Phanuef and Eriksson. Phanuef drove hard to the net and ran some goalie interference before the puck came loose and he managed to drop a backhand pass to Iginla who had an open net for his 31st goal and OT winner.
Calgary stole two points tonight yet in the grand scheme of things don’t move up in the standings because Vancouver won against NY.
Next up, LA on Saturday in LA.
Other good news on the Flames front, Miikka Kirpusoff played his third strong game in a row, even though he played last night at home.
