The Calgary Flames needed this. Sitting at 14th sot just above the lowly Edmonton Oilers, the Flames were looking for momentum facing off against the reigning Stanley Cup winning Chicago Blackhawks. Calgary doesn’t have a good history with beating the Hawks. Couple that with the upcoming road-trip out East against tough opponents and and you can understand why the Flames needed to find their winning ways fast.
Surprisingly, the team came out in full force firing on almost all cylinders.
The likes of Matt Stajan and a shaky first period goal against Kiprusoff were perhaps the only black marks of the Flames game tonight. Despite going down early 1-0 Calgary stormed back with a goal from Hagman and a greasy PP goal from Moss to put the home team up by one.
Calgary never looked back. Even Iginla got things going. Mind you, his hat-trick tonight comes at a great time, but Turco should’ve stopped maybe 4 of the 7 he let in. Nonetheless, we can certainly hope that this win gives Iginla and co. the much needed confidence they’ve been looking for.
they’re going to need it in the upcoming road trip that open in Detroit Sunday. Two back to backs in a week will test whether this team will essentially make the playoffs or not….Let’s hope it’s tonight’s Flames team that shows and not the phantom 45 minute gamers that take time off from time to time.
Here’s to hoping.
Notes: The game marked the first for Kostopoulos and Babchuk. Oli Jokinen served the first game of this three games suspension.
Picture perfect performance and hopefully the trend will continue.
Obviously, Iginla responds in kind to the recent critiques but by and large, the Flames had played their best hockey last night with two power play goals. Every single player on ice had contributed significantly….. that demonstrated team effort!!
Congratulations are in place for Iggy’s hat trick, Niklas Hagman’s high and mighty performance and Tanguay’s terrific contributions.
Great going boys and keep it up!! Go Flames Go!
What was great about last night’s performance was that the Flames were able to bounce back from a one goal deficit and did not allow the Hawks to score until the 19:40 mark of the third period. Both Moss and Morrison had been magnificient while Glencross continues to glitter.
With a total of three penalties and 29 shots on goal, the Flames demonstrated discipline and “killer instinct determination”. Way to go boys!