Pathetic Flames Give up in Toronto
Calgary suffers from a problem called: loose to shatty hockey teams. Sub .500 teams, like Atlanta, LA, St. Louis, Toronto, all of these kick the crap out of the Flames. Why this anomaly occurrs we can only guess, but valuable points are lost to teams that should be easy opponents.
Tonight was unfortunately no exception. Just when you thought the Calgary Flames had turned the corner from their abysmal defensively play and losing streak they fold the tent before their longest road trip came to an end.
There is one thing that Stanley Cup contenders do: play consistently. The Calgary Flames REFUSE to play consistent hockey. Great come from behind win against Detroit, tonight, horrific defensive play. They looked like a pond hockey team from the minor leagues (as if pond hockey leagues have minors).
Great Offence, Where’s the Defence?
Things started off bad, went to worse, got better, then was chaos after that. Three straight goals by Toronto thanks to a Daymond Langkow double-minor helped things along. However, Calgary responded strong with three of their own. 3-3 after one period of play, Calgary is going to run over this Maple Leafs team right?
Wrong. 3-3 was only Toronto’s start, they were just getting started firing pucks past a below average Kiprusoff. In fact, two goals for a 5-3 lead before Jokinen brought things closer, was the story of the second period.
Deflections and screen goals; no big saves in both ends. You could use that as the basic summary for the game except Gerber let in more soft goals and Kiprusoff was pulled in the third after giving up the 7th.
Jarome Iginla finished the night with three points. Great, you can score, but guess what, Iginla isn’t playing defence. He would have easily been -3, but his goal scoring covers up the lack of help in the D-zone. Throw Dion Phaneuf on the ice at the same time and WHOA, trouble.
Didn’t help that Leopold was relegated to the third defensive unit and Kiprusoff had an off night. In fact, the entire defensive corps and forwards had an off night, when it came to defense. Have I mentioned the Flames defensive game blows? They scored six yet let in EIGHT against the crappy Maple Leafs. EIGHT.
42 goals over the past 11 games. There are no other words to use, this Flames squad put in a poor, albeit not their worst, after getting drubbed by a junky Toronto team.
The offence continued to roll scoring late with the goalie pulled (actually with about two minutes left) Oli Jokinen scored his third of the game. Super, he can score too but hey, no defence (still learning the system? I’d hope not).
Jokinen’s offensive performance is everything we could have hoped for, five points tonight. Not sure about his defensive coverage though (only +1)….let’s hope the top line gets it’s together, because once they decide to play a bit of defense, the Flames will be that much better.
Notes: Langkow benched in the third. Warren Peters with a nice second period fight and win. Flames finally come home after a seven game road-trip. Top line did all the scoring, which is bad news if thte Flames want to find some help from lines 2-4.
Things don’t get easier for Calgary, they play Tuesday against Dallas and then Detroit again.
Listening to post game on the radio. This is why we lost:
Kipper is VERY TIRED and he needs rest.
We missed the net TONS. Need to hit the net.
second and third lines need to step up the offence.
I agree completly with Daryl. In a nutshell
And the reason Kip is tired is because McElhinney is a terrible back up goalie.
McElhinney isn’t TERRIBLE but he’s not STELLAR. The team does play different in front of him.
And yes, the top line scores tons, and it’s fun, but it’s not fun when they crap out on defense consistently.
Iron Mike after the game:
“I take full credit for probably starting the wrong goaltender,” Keenan said. “He looked a little bit fatigued, and rightfully so.
Yea, we actually may have won with McElhinney starting.