Jarome Iginla Non-Contributor Yet Again
The last time the Flames were on the road GM Darryl Sutter marched down to the locker room to blast his players on their poor road record. With only one win in the month of February, last game’s 6-2 blowout against Montreal, Calgary embarked on a brief three game road-trip beginning in Anaheim tonight.
The first thing Calgary needed to do was weather the first minute storm that saw them drop down by one Saturday against Anaheim. They did that, and one better; within the first three minutes ex-Duck Todd Bertuzzi scored his 14th of the season. Calgary mostly picked up from where they left off against Montreal two nights before maintaining good puck pursuit and speed through the neutral zone.
Scary moment when Robyn Regehr left the game to attention after a puck hit him in a face, he later returned half way through the second looking a bit uglier.
In the second the referees got involved late calling a marginal goalie interference against Moss and then a hooking call against Phanuef which Anaheim converted on. That tied the score, but it could have been much worse if Miikka Kiprusoff hadn’t stood tall to make some big point blank saves–a seemingly regular occurrence for the netminder.
Calgary had their chance on the PP to take the lead, and despite a wide open net Jarome Iginla fanned on the shot–the captain is truly sankebit. Thankfully, right after the Getzlaf penalty expired Curtis Glencross wired a beauty top shelf to reclaim the lead.
Play went back and forth with Anaheim taking the edge in momentum. That would change with thirty seconds left with Dion Phaneuf actually did one of the four things he’s paid for–he destroyed a diminutive Anaheim forward with a crushing shoulder (or elbow?). We haven’t seen a Dion hit like that since he destroyed Hemel from Ottawa.
Chris Pronger wanted to exact justice in his usual dirty fashion but ended up getting the only penalty fro the ensuing melee. Calgary started the third on the PP, but that didn’ tmatter since Jarome Iginla was on the ice. A horrible powerplay gave Anaheim all the momentum, and just as the the Ducks returned to even strength they quickly tied the game up.
Referees Turn Blind Eye to Garbage Anaheim Play
The penalty kill for the Flames stood tall as players started a parade to the box. This wouldn’t have been a problem had the refs called ridiculous interference plays Anaheim would commit two or three times one some shift, pathetic. In the third, 3 for 3 went the PK.
Interference was the call when Calgary finally got another chance on the PP. A chance for the Flames star player to pull through with three minutes left. Nothing doing though, another opportunity squandered without even a shot. That meant one point and time for OT, and a rare 3v3 game.
Dion Phaneuf screwed up by deflecting the puck and Scott Niedermeyer got lucky with a deflection to beat Kipper. Another ridiculous loss but the Flames who had a chance to win it but were their own enemy with bad penalties and a terrible PP.
