Inadequate. That’s the only way to sum it up. One lucky goal by Matthew Lombardi made the score somewhat respectable, but at the end of the day, and this late in the season, Calgary stunk out the joint in the final home date of 2008.
The Edmonton Oilers, fraught with injuries, have the same amount of wins as the Flames, an apparent veteran club with some marquee names. The goes to show the extent the team has underachieved and coasted through the season. Either the Calgary Flames aren’t as good as people think/thought, or they’re lazy.
With games in hand against all of the NW division rivals the Flames could have closed the gap between the first place Wild. The Oil were coming off a heartbreaking loss the night before in Colorado, coupled with the excitement of the home crowd for the final regular season game, all signs pointed to a sure Flames win–of course the players thought otherwise.
The usual Flames showed up. In their every-other-game heroics the Flames were outplayed early. Lucky for them they quickly righted the ship around the time Vandermeer and Hug-tini dropped the gloves. (Note to Jim, let Godard fight, you play D).
Although Calgary dominated the zone play for most of the game, untimely penalties and non-existent scoring combined to hand the Flames a costly loss. One would thing the Oilers would be a tired team, but in reality, they poured it on late in the third and scored two unanswered goals to take the win.
Desperation is one thing lacking from the Flames game. Lack of consistency up front (flashes of brilliance v. total defensive breakdowns, i.e., the Edmonton first goal,) means no goals, which means no wins.
Could you imagine, the Flames out of the playoffs because they couldn’t play a 60 minute hockey game? It’s reality folks. We’ll have more to think of tomorrow night as the Flames head out for 4 straight road-game beginning in Vancouver.
