A Tale of Two Losses: Flames Thwarted by Oilers, Canucks

The Calgary Flames’ consistency issues were front and centre in back-to-back losses against the Edmonton Oilers and Vancouver Canucks this weekend. The Flames produced vastly different efforts as the Western Conference Playoff picture remains blurred.

In a Saturday night classic edition of the Battle of Alberta the Flames and Oilers would play nearly sixty minutes of intense but safe hockey resulting in the 2-1 Edmonton win. Both sides saw men step up to responsibility. The Edmonton youth line of Andrew Cogliano, Sam Gagner and Robert Nilsson (son of former Flames/Oilers star Kent Nilsson) were impressive and would play Calgary’s number one string, while Oiler stand-ups Steve Staios, Denis Grebeshkov, Ales Hemsky and Marty Reasoner kept the game even throughout.

The Flames equally found lifting efforts from along the bench, and everyone seemed to be playing as coach Mike Keenan was dictating. Line changes were clean, passes were tape-to-tape, and despite jumpy ice the players kept the puck well within their control.

The Flames delivered a physical performance, out-hitting the Edmontonians 27-14 as both teams played crisp, conservative, two-way hockey for the first forty minutes. The first period bore witness to a crowd-rousing off-the-draw bout. In his now familiar position of left-wing call-up, Calgary defenseman Jim Vandermeer squared up with Zach Stortini following prolonged pre-drop chirping. The Flames found the physical edge, but the Oilers responded by playing their youthful game. The third period would begin with a scoreless deadlock as both benches held to a strict game plan, each hoping to out-wait the other and take the lead.

While the entire Calgary squad showed jump, the line of Matthew Lombardi, Wayne Primeau and Stephane Yelle proved particularly effective. Having kept the puck firmly in the Edmonton zone through the tilt, the line would be offensively led by Lombardi to find the first goal of the game at 5:43 of the last period. Bursting in with an shorthanded attempt earlier in the frame, the speedy centreman would show further offensive awareness as he ripped a shot past Dwayne Roloson when the Edmonton goalie lost an edge and slipped out of position.

Sixty-seven seconds later the Oilers would even the score on the strength of Grebeshkov’s third goal of the season. A nice hip-check at the Calgary blue-line proved futile to stop the play as the Oilers, almost predictably, used their great transitional play to create the opportunity. Midway through the period, the visitors would find the go-ahead marker courtesy of Dustin Penner. Assisted by Hemsky (his second helper of the game), the shot went past Miikka Kiprusoff as the Calgary goalie sat deep in his net. Looking as though he was going to cut further out in front, Penner fooled Kipper with a quick shot, his head down.

Calgary would fight back in an unsuccessful attempt to draw even in the last nine minutes.

The hometown fans, incensed enough at the potential loss were further agitated by two late game non-calls. Twice (perhaps three times), the Oilers were guilty of upending skating Flames without reproach. In the final moments with an icing face-off in the Edmonton zone, bench-boss Craig MacTavish was caught trying to sneak a rested Jarret Stoll on for Robert Nilsson. Ironically it was Nilsson who cleared the puck from danger in the dying seconds to secure the victory.

Kristian Huselius returned to the Calgary lineup and played 18+ minutes after sitting as a healthy scratch following recently reduced ice time. Although he seemed a bit tentative he made some smart plays and kept the puck cycling.

This game was very even overall despite the uneven final score. There were positives to be found in the well-fought outing, which was the regular season finale at the Saddledome. Although perhaps they should have found the win, the commendable play gave them some leeway. The Oilers faced post-season elimination with anything other than a two point win and found inner-strength from a young, injury-riddled team.

Heading directly to Vancouver for Sunday’s contest at GM Place, Calgary undoubtedly intended to crank it up a notch and build on the positives. While they managed to show potential in the first twenty minutes, the Flames all but disappeared after the intermission.

A high-scoring affair, the visiting Flames would open the scoring via a David Moss marker just 1:13 in. The score was equalised by a very patient Sami Salo PP point-shot, but Calgary would retake the lead as Lombardi silenced the crowd with his own power-play offering at 18:52. Despite having the lead twice in the game, Calgary would give up five in a row following the 2-1 lead to eventually lose 6-2.

The Flames would lose the advantage with only seconds left in the first. Facing a 2-on-1 with Daniel Sedin and Marcus Naslund on the offensive, Robyn Regehr did his best to contain the dangerous play. The puck bounced in Sedin’s favour as he took the initial shot which Naslund buried on the rebound. From there on out, the Calgary Flames seemed to stop playing.

Giving up the most penalties so far this season (16 individual charges), the Flames were an amazing 9-10 on the penalty kill. Regardless, they allowed five even strength tallies and were completely out-played after allowing the tying 2-2 goal late in the first period.

Vancouver veteran and local favourite Trevor Linden recorded his first two-goal performance this year with his 6^th and 7^thtallies. Given chances for the hat-trick, the Vancouver fans cheered Linden on in a season in which he has been a repeated healthy scratch. The Canucks also received goals from former Calgary Hitman Matt Pettinger and the effectively pesky Brad Isbister, each of whom added other contributions to the win.

After allowing four goals on fourteen shots, Kiprusoff was yanked in favour of Curtis Joseph. With three vitally important road games left he will want the rest before facing Edmonton at Rexall Place on Tuesday, especially after facing some physical abuse from the Canucks.

While no fights were officially recorded there was no shortage of scrapping as roughing penalties and misconducts were handed out left and right. Calgary defenseman Cory Sarich was led to the dressing room early in the last frame when he took the game’s first ten-minute penalty after he went to the box four times in a row on roughing and slashing calls. Late in the third Jarome Iginla and Alex Burrows each took their own misconducts after they clashed near the Vancouver net; Iginla received an additional double-minor for roughing.

Down two centres by the end of the first (Daymond Langkow missed the game due to family emergency and Craig Conroy would suffer a torso injury early on), Flames fans watched in despair as the remaining highly-skilled player failed to step up. After arguably outplaying the home team in the first period, Calgary faltered after the first intermission. The teams were fairly even in hits and blocked shots, but Vancouver led in shots-on-net and face-offs. Dominating the Flames’ elite players to the point where they were almost non-factors, Vancouver managed to gain a point on the Nashville Predators to stay in the playoff hunt.

The difference between the two games was almost shocking. Expecting the Flames to take initiative in what was their last chance to contend for post-season home-ice, fans saw first hope and then humility. Again, the group from Cowtown failed to play up to potential; the reassuring thing is that this squad is entirely capable of a rebound. How or indeed ifthey effect it has yet to be seen. This team can play incredible hockey, but discipline must tighten up the induvidual performances and team effort if they want a chance at Lord Stanley‘s Cup this Spring.

One show had a silver lining, the other saw forty minutes that were black as pitch. One could have gone either way, the other was over in thirty minutes. At this point, it must be viewed as history; the Flames need to look forward and must learn from their mistakes without getting caught up in them. Right now the Flames are still in control of their own destiny despite losing out on recent opportunities. No longer in serious contention for first in the Northwest, Calgary must now take charge and win at least five points over their last three games in search of a post-season ticket and the most favourable seed in the playoffs.