I’ll be honest, I didn’t think Calgary would pull this one out of the hat, but then again, a lot of people have been discrediting the Flames lately. Their cumulative age perhaps is their biggest asset as they go into games late trailing by a goal or two.
Tonight, playing on what looked like a lake (teams should be fined if they can’t be bothered to produce NHL calibre ice), Calgary and Nashville got out to a flying start, but it was a slow mo ping pong match after that.
Calgary had the lions share of chances in the first period, mostly due to a few powerplay opportunities. However, despite chances, Nashville struck first and fast to go up 1-0.
It looked like Calgary was dominating play through 2 periods, but when you look at the stats, even though it took 10 minutes for Nashville to register a shot in the second period for a total six shots, Calgary only had six as well.
THe comeback started in the third when Matt Stajan got his fourth of the season (one more than Phaneuf! :S) on a lucky goal.
Jokinen decided to take a stupid penalty and Nashville went up again. But then, the unlikeliest of heroes, Cory Sarich, snuck in from the point with 10 minutes left and tied the game. In his own words, “even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while”.
OT solved nothing so it was shoot out time. Again, inexplicably Rene Bourque took the first shot. It actually worked out, he pulled a nice move. Tanguay missed, and Jokinen missed, but Bourque’s goal was enough since Kipper stopped all his shots.
With the win Calgary is now in a three way tie for 8th spot. All the games that were three point games gave Minnesota two, LA 1, SJ none, Chicago 2, and Calgary 2. Three teams locked. No room for error from here on in, none.
It was good to note that the Flames aims to strive for five worked tonight. I didn’t enjoy the game as much because the visiting team was giving away a lot of bounces to the opposition. More importantly, they were unable to score on man advantages and gave away one. Thankfully, Sarich was there at the right time and place. Nonetheless, the two points are all that matter.
On a closing note, fans need goals from Tanguay, Jokinen, Glencross to keep the full team upbeat. Wake up boys..and try a fix for six!!