Calgary is in what used to be the toughest division in hockey. With Minnesota, Colorado, Edmonton, Vancouver, all mostly rebuilding, Calgary probably doesn’t skate with the hardest in the league. As such you’d expect the Flames to be dominant in the West, and although they teeter on the edge of number 1 in the division, they are to flippant and inconsistent with their game to truly take it to the next level.
Surprisingly Calgary beat NY because most people thought NY, Montreal, Detroit were all going to be losses. Why not, Calgary does not compete with the elite teams in the NHL period. Montreal came out to play, and although Calgary played hard, their game is not up to par.
Terrible Referees Yet Again
All facets of the game suffer from inconsistencies. Fans have seen it, the Calgary Flames have what it takes to be a great team but what plagues their game is their problems with stringing together complete 60 minute games game in and game out. That’s what Detroit does, that what San Jose does, that’s what Calgary doesn’t do. It’s what separates winners from losers, Stanley Cups from first round exists.
Calgary ran into a hot goalie tonight and didn’t have an answer Montreal’s trap system. Yes, to all the idiots in the east, Montreal has flash on the top line and on the PP, but with the lead it’s trap trap trap. BORING hockey, but hey, it wins games right? On the flip side, apart from one nice save, Kiprusoff was soft in goal letting in three easy goals.
The top lines, well we didn’t know which one was the top line, but nobody had great chemistry. When the puck did make it to the net Calgary couldn’t beat Montreal’s BACKUP goalie Halak. Dustin Boyd scored the only Flame goal in his return in five games.
Special teams had no answer and went ZERO for the night. In fact, Calgary had a chance for a 5v3 but instead chose to skate around the boards instead of the man advantage. Right after the Habs went back to full strength what happened? Another minus for the top line, Montreal scores. The top line should’ve been minus three, but they managed to stay on the ice for the single goal, overall another iffy effort.
The referees mostly called a solid game except for the third where they thought it be good to put away the whistles. Only problem, consistent holding and interference but probably the worst was a KNEE from Markov that went uncalled. Markov did get a penalty after the refs thought about it but talk about a disgusting play.
I didn’t quite understand the bench penalty that was called against the Flames?
the coach was yelling at the officials nonstop….by yelling i mean swearing. This was after Dion got a knee to the knee.
It is always good for a team to know when leadership stands up for them. Keenan’s frustrations are well justified – the refs believe they can just get away with anything and they certainly did with handing Tampa the cup on silver platter, but that doesn’t mean the coaches have to be silent and let things slipl by day after day….