You give Detroit an inch and they’ll score repeatedly. Calgary relied too heavily on huge Kipper saves, and were the in the penalty box too often against a Detroit team that actually knows how to work a powerplay. Result? A loss.
It doesn’t help that the referees have difficulty calling penalties against the veteran Red Wings. I can’t get over how THREE Brad Stuart interference calls went uncalled. I know this is a bit of an aside, but that guy comes out of his lane to impede rushing forwards, tripping them in the process, and no call. I guess I don’t know what interference.
For their part, Calgary had moments where you thought they’d steal two points, but a boneheaded Curtis Glencross penalty late in the third when the game was tied was enough to give Detroit a PP and the eventual lead.
Glencross took a two handed slash from Henrik Zetterberg on the hands. A clear penalty if a 4th line no-name player does it, but not for Zetterberg. Glencross retaliates with a light slash on Zetterberg’s ass and gets two for slashing. Lame, but that’s how she goes. Glencross can’t take stupid penalties, or if you are going to do it, at least beat the hell out of Zetterberg, don’t tap him on the butt.
The Flames worked hard on their PP scoring twice with the man advantage. If the Flames had any resemblance of an offence they could’ve taken advantage of shaky goaltending. Yet, a non-existent first line with slumping Iginla and Co. along with the rest, could only manage 22 shots.
There are glimpses of hope despite TJ Brodie with another solid game. HOrak is lost, albeit he has a bright future. Morrison returned, taking high priced dud Matt Stajan out. He scored his first but also caused one with a stupid giveaway in his own end.
ALl in all, fans are coming to the point where even diehard fans think this team is terrible. It’s time to rebuild, and that probably starts with Iginla and more.
Notes: Calgary has the same record as they did last year at this time. We all know how that season ended, and we can expect that the Flames won’t go on another glorious run.