It only happens once in a blue moon, tonight all 30 NHL hockey teams were in action and Calgary was included, visiting Arizona to take on the Coyotes. Nobody could find the game on TV so most folks resorted to the Fan 960 for their play by play. We watched the game and probably outnumbered the number of Phoenix fans in attendance.
Calgary came out of the gate early trying to maintain some kind of momentum from their come from behind win against Nashville on Thursday. Todd Bertuzzi opened the scoring three minutes in on the powerplay. Later Brandon Prust (Proost has the Phoneix commentator said) scored his first of the season and as a Flames.
Another quick start and early lead for the Flames, however, with a minute to go an open ice hit that was border line interference between Boyd and Fedoruk (guess who won that collision?) caused confusion that say Boyd limp to the Flames bench and Fedoruk trail in the zone and score untouched in the slot. Certainly a interference penalty if you are a homer, incidental contact if you’re a Coyote.
In the second Calgary looked to improve on their late period breakdown by getting back to the forecheck. Boyd, fresh off the huge hit in the neutral zone, drew a penalty for the Flames. On the powerplay, although it sputters most of the time, Dion Phaneuf was allowed to walk in off a rush, blasted a shot, and scored on his own rebound–his first of the season.
It must be the markets in Arizona (buy a house for 9000 cash no problem, same thing costs 350000 here) because the arena was dead and so were the Coyotes. Calgary dominated most of the play in the second less a successful penalty kill. Much of the same in the third, thank goodness this one wasn’t broadcasted because after the first 5 minutes it was a snorefest. Flames win, should have generated more even strength offence (Iginla’s third period empty netter doesn’t count), that is all.
Notes: First line: Iggy, Conroy, Bourque. Can’t say two third liners and Iginla is the best option. Lombardi is out with an arm/shoulder injury. Kipper looked strong in his limited amount of work.
