Second, Third, Forth Lines No Shows
Yet again, Calgary came out, displayed some grit and dominance in flashes, and also the reverse in defensive lapses. The top line for Calgary literally handed the Sharks the series on the tieing goal in Calgary Tuesday. Tonight they came out with a better effort, yet an issue plaguing the Flames since DAY ONE is the problem of ZERO secondary scoring.
The Flames have the names, but in the playoffs it’s becoming reality that the soft hands translate into useless players.
Let’s take a brief rundown on the Flames players:
Iginla – Shows up, albeit poor defence again.
Tanguay – One nice pass for an assist, otherwise unnoticeable.
Huselius – No Show
Lombardi – No Show
Moss – No show less his one goal late.
Langkow – invisible
Yelle – invisible
Nystrom – invisible
etc. etc.
You get the idea. Calgary has no secondary scoring, and although the scoresheet reflects 3 goals, two came in the dying minutes and the first goal was on a 5v3 powerplay. For the Sharks, Marleau scored the tiebreaking goal late in the second period and Cheechoo added two goals in the third that sent the Sharks to a 4-3 victory over the Flames on Thursday night and a 3-2 lead in their first-round series.
Despite being outplayed the Sharks still capitalized on their chances, and their top players are turning in big performances–Calgary not so much.
The Flames responded by putting one more shot on goal (11) in the first period than they had in the entire game Tuesday. Next game is Sunday–no word on if the Flame forwards will show up for the hometown crowd. Goals seem to be hard to come by, and if the entire team doesn’t display another level of grit–the ENTIRE team–it’s game over.
