Atlanta, Atlanta, hmmm, yea, doesn’t ring a bell. Not sure when the last time Atlanta won anything, hockey wise, and tonight was no different. Although they have a couple of big name stars, the Flames seemed to capably keep them at bay for most of the night. From my seat in section 221 I felt the play was mostly in the Atlanta end, I can count on one hand all the time the Thrashers had sustained pressure.
All in all, a pretty good W and a chance to temporarily retake top spot in the NW division. The only things you could gripe about was the powerplay and the fact Calgary had plenty of chances and couldn’t capitalize on them.
Notables:
Iginla was quiet for most of the night but did pick up two assists. Imagine that, a quiet night is two assists. Jokinen was flying, hope he continues to improve. Still not convinced Dawes is the answer for top line LW.
No Conroy, out with a wrist injury. Regehr was in and played 22 minutes. Aaron Johnson with his first point as a Flame.
Glencross with the beat down on Armstrong, although I don’t get why a big hit warrants a fight. Nystrom played a solid all around game.
Kerry Fraser was in the house making his usual bogus penalty calls.
You can blame me for Kipper’s third attempt at a shutout. With 8 minutes left I mentioned, “geez this will be three shut outs in like 4 weeks.” A minute later the Thrashers score. My bad Miikka, my bad.
Good overall performance by the Flames and it was good to see Regehr back in form.
I think Bourque has regained his intensity and played particularly well scoring the empty netter. Congratulations Bourque. Compliments to Dawes and Jokinen for making accurate connections.
I wasn’t too sure about the penalty calls and if I am not mistaken there were two penalties against the Thrashers that were not called i.e. the goalie interference and the high stick on Jokinen. I also felt that the Flames were penalized more than the Thrashers. Correct me if I am wrong on this one.
Great performance Flames and thank you for your hard work. Way to go boys!!
I agree with everyone that they dominated Atlanta for most of the game. Also in agreement that the power play isn’t looking good, something to work on in practice. They are rounding into Sutters team.