Calgary Flames Must Learn to Hold Their Leads

Watching the Calgary Flames play the third period of the past two games against the Edmonton Oilers and Colorado Avalanche was the equivalent of watching Lindsay Lohan attempt to make it through one day of rehab.

Painful, in other words.

Apparently the Flames hadn't got the memo that there are three periods in hockey. Watching the Flames completely dominate the Oilers in every aspect through most of the first two periods, only to then see a 4-1 lead blown, was aggravating beyond belief. 

At least they won that one, and Miikka Kiprusoff was excellent in the shootout.

However, to witness three leads blown like us Flames fans did yesterday was especially painful. I don’t know what it is about the Avalanche, but they are the new Chicago Blackhawks for the Flames; we can’t seem to shake them.

Neither Henrik Karlsson nor Peter Budaj were good in this game, but the Avalanche took far more advantage of this fact in the third, out-shooting the Flames 15-3. While yes, the backup Karlsson didn't have that great of a game, he wasn't the reason the Flames lost; careless giveaways in our own end were the ultimate culprit, and these lazy plays were the death of the Flames.

What’s Next

The Flames are facing the Washington Capitals tomorrow, a team that will most certainly eat you alive if you try to sit on a lead. Don’t let Alex Ovechkin’s recent struggles fool you; the Caps have no troubles finding the net and have multiple dangerous snipers.

“Yay" News!

The Flames got big goals against the Avalanche from both Olli Jokinen and Matt Stajan. For both, it was their first goal of the season, so hopefully this is the beginning of more goals to come.

Changes Coming?

David Moss has been practicing with the team, and looks to be returning from injury soon. It is, however, unclear as to where he’ll fit in. Will he be slotted back into the centre position he was playing in the preseason? Or will they have him back on right wing like the previous three seasons?

Other Notes

• The Flames signed Mark Giordano to a five-year contract extension averaging $4.02 million per year, the same that Robyn Regehr makes. It was made clear that the Flames didn't want to wait until free agency, and decided to lock down the defenceman while they could. Gio has been fantastic for the Flames but I’m wondering what this will do to the cap hit. As far as guys like Ian White goes, it’s questionable whether or not the Flames will be able to re-sign him.
• After an hour delay in practice today (due to an earful the players were receiving from coach Sutter), the Flames came out for a full 60 minutes of intense physical drills, even including some big hits from guys like Regehr. Coach Sutter explained, “What we did in practice today was play our third period.” Let’s all hope the next third period is actually played against the Capitals.