Jarome Iginla became the Flames all-time franchise point getter tonight versus the Tampa Bay Lightning. Unfortunately, the rest of the team suffered from their notorious ‘play crappy teams and loose’ syndrome. While Jarome returned to form with a five point night (ok, he exceeded form) the rest of the team forgot fundamentals and were caught allowing eight goals against.


Nobody in their right mind would have assumed the NW division leading Flames would give up eight goals at home despite a depleted lineup. Everybody in their right mind were planning the party expecting Jarome Iginla to beat the franchise point record.

Tampa got the scoring started 15 minutes into the first period. Jarome responded two minutes later. You had the sense Calgary may take over the game from that point with new energy as the Dome anticipated the upcoming record break.

Tampa in fact responded first in the second period, however, from there Calgary scored three straight goals in five minutes. 4-2 against one of the worst teams in the NHL, good enough right? Not a chance.

Bumbling defensive plays and powerplay meant Tampa were given a chance to come back. Three more goals silenced an electric crowd after the Iginla triumph. All the wheels came off and for the first time since key injuries took place Calgary seemed out of place.

The score sheet after two:

Tampa Bay 11:07, Evgeny Artyukhin 5 (unassisted)
Calgary 15:44, Jarome Iginla 25 (power play) (David Moss, Michael Cammalleri)

2nd Period
Tampa Bay 1:19, Martin St. Louis 21 (Steven Stamkos, Mark Recchi)
Calgary 8:07, Craig Conroy 7 (Dion Phaneuf, Jarome Iginla)
Calgary 13:02, Michael Cammalleri 33 (power play) (David Moss, Jarome Iginla)
Calgary 14:19, Jamie Lundmark 2 (Cory Sarich, Matthew Lombardi)
Tampa Bay 14:57, Vincent Lecavalier 26 (Cory Murphy, Josef Melichar)
Tampa Bay 16:14, Steven Stamkos 13 (Mark Recchi, Martin St. Louis)
Tampa Bay 18:27, Vaclav Prospal 16 (power play) (Gary Roberts, Steve Eminger)

Incredible Iginla continued his torrid pace with another goal 16 second into the third. A chance perhaps to sweep the hometeam to a come from behind victory?

Third period stats sheet says the defense wouldn’t hold. A coaching decision to pull Kipper for McElhinney did two things. A) proved we still need a backup goalie, b) probably cost the team at least a point as McElhinney let in a soft goal due to poor rebound control.

3rd Period
Calgary 0:14, Jarome Iginla 26 (Craig Conroy, Jim Vandermeer)
Tampa Bay 2:39, Ryan Malone 22 (power play) (Mark Recchi, Vincent Lecavalier)
Tampa Bay 8:32, Vincent Lecavalier 27 (power play) (Mark Recchi, Cory Murphy)
Calgary 16:46, Todd Bertuzzi 15 (power play) (Jarome Iginla, Michael Cammalleri)
Tampa Bay 19:28, Martin St. Louis 22 (empty net) (Mark Recchi)

Four powerplay goals for Tampa, all around, a poor effort, from a team that needs every point against bottom basement dweller teams. Calgary has a huge problem with sub .500 teams, and on this night, what was worse was squandering Iginla’s five point night.

Notes: Warren Peters and David Van Der Gulik are now on the team for the foreseeable future as Langkow and Bourque are far from returning.