Coming off a disappointing loss at home, the Flames received a much needed shot in the arm in more ways than one. Firstly, the team went through a bag skate in practice two days ago. Players like Glencross and Iginla were singled out for the lack of production and intensity.

The Flames also got a literal shot in the arm when they, along with their families, visited an undisclosed medical clinic attached to the public sector and received H1N1 vaccines before there was a noticeable shortage. The issue was so controversial that a senior management official with the health region was fired and the Flames released a press release on the issue.

Then today, back to hockey, during game time, the Flames, lead by their captain, anchored by their backup goalie, and helped by the refs, pulled off an overtime win to collect two points.


Of course, these all came together after the game, what about during? You couldn’t have believed Calgary received any ‘shot in the arm’ given their play over two periods. Despite trading chances with Dallas, and despite going up 1-0 after 1.5 periods of play thanks to a pretty Iginla goal, the Flames were badly outshot allowing 30 in the first two periods alone.

The man behind the mask stopping 39 shots was none other than back up Curtis McElhinney. Kirpusoff pulled out earlier in the day feeling a bit of the flu bug coming on, McElhinney came into the game, maybe with less time to think about the start, and gave the Flames some relief when they needed it most. HE even stopped a terrible penalty shot call against the Flames.

Nigel Dawes blew converage in the third period that gave the Stars the lead, a goal McElhinney had no chance on. From there you thought the limited offence generated by Calgary would catch with them. So with a minute to play and the goalie pulled Suuter put out the best Flames. That would be a line of: Moss, Langkow, Bourque, and Iginla.

The line managed to maintain downlow pressure and slide home the tying goal with 50 seconds to spare. In OT the Flames capitalized on an errant penalty call to go on 4v3 advantage. It didn’t take long before Iginla wired home his second of the night to give the Flames the victory.

Iginla factored in all three goals for the FLames–he looked alive tonight. However, the team is still trying to figure out which center wants to play with him. Jokinen is still missing in action; currently he looks like a monster 5.5 million dollar bust.