Flames Escape Hurricane of a Finish

By Derrick Newman

Well that was different...

Scoring seven or more goals for the first time since Valentines Day last year when they beat the Avalanche 9-1, the Calgary Flames squeaked by the just as desperate Carolina Hurricanes 7-6 on Tuesday night in Calgary.

The offence came alive scoring two in the first, two in the second, and adding on three in third, including Jarome Iginla’s empty net goal which proved to be the eventual winner.

The line of Iginla, Jokinen, and Brendan Morrison combined for 10 points on the night and were the driving force behind a much needed win – regardless of how ugly it got in the dying seconds.

The Flames also threw the 10,000 pound gorilla off their back when Mikael Backlund scored on the power play halfway through the third to break a string of 27 straight chances at home on the man advantage without a single goal – a streak that dates back to October 26^th.

Should Calgary Flames fans be worried?

By Derrick Newman

After starting the season with one win over the first four games, should Calgary Flames fans be worried?

Well, truth be told you probably should’ve been worried before the season even started, or perhaps should have just lowered your expectations.

I know what people are going to say now, “Here comes Newman with another cynical look at the Flames,” but really what’s there to be happy about?

Let’s find some positives, shall we?

Calgary Flames Hit Speed Bump in Chi-Town

Courtest Getty images

Losing on the back half of back-to-back games – it’s something that shouldn’t surprise most Flames fans.
With a record of 4-6-1 when playing the night before, the Flames don’t thrive on playing on a near empty tank of gas. Then again, I would venture to guess most teams don’t beg to play two games in as many nights.

The Flames, after giving the St. Louis Blues a thrashing of a lifetime, fell behind on Wednesday night to a much hungrier Chicago Blackhawks team. Unfortunately, the magic comeback attempt wasn’t in the cards this time as Chicago eventually squeezed out a 6-4 win on the shoulders of Jonathan Toews –the best player in the NHL right now.

Flames Thoughts

41 games down, 41 games to go – and they are going to be long 41 games at that.


Sitting 14th in the Western Conference, six points back of 8th place, hopes for a miracle run are fading in a hurry. It doesn’t help the situation when a majority of teams ahead of the Flames have played fewer games than them, making it doubly hard to gain any sort of ground.

Did I mention that you have to actually win games to gain ground as well? Right. Another stopping point in their quest for legitimacy.

Jay Feaster is apparently conjuring up two separate master plans for the future of the Flames organization: one if they are out of contention and one if they are in contention. Well, Jay, you may as well just focus on the prior, and stop wasting time on the latter.

Watching the Canucks dispose of the Flames last night was difficult to say the least. Yes, they outshot the Northwest division leaders 44-21, but it never really seemed as if they EVER had a chance. Maybe the goal 1:10 into the game had something to do with it.

Flames like the holiday season

Courtesy: AP

The Flames are on a roll – sort of.


Winners of their last two games, and four of their last five under the Dome, the Flames climbed to within six points of 8th spot in the western conference. Let’s just ignore the fact that the Flames have played more games than pretty well everyone else in the conference save the Ducks.

Olli Jokinen has six goals in his last nine forcing most people to hide their distaste for the Finnish centerman. He’s playing how he should be playing, and that’s what the Flames him to do. Let’s hope he keeps it up.

Flames options moving forward

In light of the Flames facing off against Toronto tonight, the team they partnered off with to make last year's blockbuster deal, I thought it would be interesting to look at some of the Flames options moving forward.

The Flames have issues. That’s clearly apparent. But fixing those issues -- therein lies the true work of art.

How do you get yourself out from under this mess? A mess that includes but is not restricted to: Locked in contracts to over rated players (cough...Stajan); no-trade/movement clauses to anyone and everyone (Iginla, Langkow, Stajan, Bourque, Kotalik, Jokinen, Tanguay, Bouwmeester, Regehr, Sarich, Kiprusoff).

These problems, among others, are reasons why the the Flames are going nowhere fast, just so everyone is aware.

So let’s look into some possible options to fixing this crap storm of poor managing.

Mo-Vember is over, bring on Mo-Cember!

One of the finest Stache's EVER!

With the win tonight the Flames finished the month of November with a 4-7-2 record – a far cry from last year’s 10-2-2 domination over the month of Moustaches.


For his part, Jarome Iginla continued his November tirade scoring eight goals and adding five assists in 13 games. Not only did he score more, but Iginla began asserting himself more in the play. He was the Iggy of old and it really couldn’t have come at a better time.

Funny enough, Alex Tanguay had 13 points (2G 11A) as well in the 13 games in November. This has been a definite bright spot for the Flames this year as Tanguay and Iginla actually have chemistry – which has been hard to come by recently.

Flames return from road trip un-changed

Here are some numbers from the five game road-trip the Flames just came back from:


A record of 1-2-2.

Outscored 14-9.

Average of 2.8 goals against per game.

Average of 1.8 goals for per game.

Outshot 161-146.

1 for 15 on the PP or 6.67% completion, including going 0 for 12 in the final four games.

16 for 21 on the PK or 76.19% efficiency

1 -1 in shootouts

Only one blown lead – to blow a lead, you must first have a lead and those were few and far between.

1-2-1 against the Atlantic division.

Injuries: Stajan (2 games), Regehr (1 game). Both returned before the trip was done.

Flames continue slide

Photo Courtesy: calgaryherald.com

The Calgary Flames lost 2-1 to the New York Rangers tonight.


The Flames had their chances to tie the game, but were stymied by the post, Martin Biron’s pads/glove, or a combination of both.

This is an all too familiar tale.

So what else can I say that hasn’t be said already. Nothing really, and so instead I will look at some individual efforts that have stuck out recently – both good and bad.

Iggy Ignites, but Flames lose late

From satisfaction to utter shock.


What just happened? Did that just happen? Did I just witness that?

Surely, some of the many responses from shocked Flames fans after they blew a late two goal lead in Detroit to lose 5-4 to the Red Wings.

But really, they didn’t do the things necessary to win the game. They took too many bad penalties (see Stajan tackling Filppula near the end of the game) and when they were HANDED an opportunity to close the game out, they decided to take the conservative route instead.

Let me explain.

Guest Columnist: Flames down Avs

Newman is on hiatus for a little while, so I'll be trying to fill the daily negative, I mean reality-check based, Flames' blogs that he is so aptly known for.
Last night the Flames gave up the first goal of the game for the first time in as long as I can remember. Maybe we should get back into the Delorean and get it up to 88 mph ... nope, I'll just use the internet. It was on October 16th against the Edmonton Oilers. Damn. That was almost a month ago; at the very least it was a span of 9 games. What does that mean? Who knows. The Flames are an enigma, wrapped in a riddle, rolled in a slice of bacon right now. There was no way I (or most Flames fans) thought they could turn it around and win after Christ Stewart scored less than two minutes into the third period. But they did.
Credit to B Sutter for changing up his lines and uniting David Moss, Mikael Backlund, and Niklas Hagman together though. That was very Keenan-esque of him, seeing as despite moving Morrison from wing to center and then back to wing, and dropping Jokinen off of the first line (after forcing that combination for an eternity) are the only real line changes he's made all year (edit: I just realized that we're only a handful of games into the season and not an "eternity"; so, why is everyone getting on Iginla already again?).

Remember, remember, the month of November

“In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of Fate.”

Is that Jarome Iginla? Well, it’s entirely possible.

A man who is both chastised for what he doesn’t do, but loved for what he does. It’s a fascinating situation to be in and now that November is upon us it is historically Jarome’s, and the Calgary Flames time to shine.

Let me explain.

Flames Ignited

Who the hell are these guys and what did they do with the Calgary Flames? You know who I’m talking about right? The team that finished 2nd last in goal scoring last season and was averaging less than two goals a game heading into Friday night -- yeah that would be them.


Well, something happened to change the tides and now the Flames are looking like world beaters every time they hit the ice.

This team has scored 10 goals in two games and outscored their opponents by four in both affairs. One reason for the surge in goal scoring has been that every line now seems to be creating chances.

The Weekly Roundup - October 18th, 2010

Flames rollercoaster ride continues

With the amount stress Calgary Flames fans have experienced in the past week, one might think you had been riding the emotional highs and lows of a teenage girl who is trying to fit in at a new school. But yet, this all comes thanks to a team destined to pull at the heart strings of its faithful followers to the bitter end. It is the ultimate love-hate relationship.

The Flames began the week by beating an L.A. Kings team that most think will finish in the top of the Western Conference. Spirits were brought back up from the devastating season opening loss to the Oilers and things were looking bright with the Florida Panthers coming into town on Thursday. This should have been a good game to start a small winning streak, however having said that it ended up being two and half hours of some of the worst entertainment you will ever see. Watching the senior lawn bowling championships on the ‘OCHO’ would have out-duelled this snooze fest, but sadly for Flames fans they were left to wallow in self pity for having to pay any sum of money to watch 20 baboons troll around an NHL arena. I felt pity for anyone in attendance as it was difficult enough watching on TV.

Same Pile of...

“SHUT UP! Enough already, Ballstein! Who cares about Derek Zoolander anyway? The man has only one look, for Christ's sake! Blue Steel? Ferrari? Le Tigra? They're the same face! Doesn't anybody notice this?” – Mugatu


This is how I feel.

The Calgary Flames are Derek Zoolander. Derek Zoolander is the Calgary Flames. Regardless of the grammatical nightmare that is that last sentence one thing remains – the 2010-11 Calgary Flames are eerily similar, if not the worse, to the 2009-10 version of the Flames.

The Ultimate Question

Will the Calgary Flames make the playoffs?

That seems to be the question I hear more than any other when I watch TSN, Sportsnet, TheScore, or drop in on conversations at the local watering hole.

So, will they?

Well it’s a little more complicated than that. It involves beating out seven other teams in a very, very competitive Western Conference.

For the 'what ifs' in life

“You may say that I’m a dreamer. But I’m not the only one.”- John Lennon 

What if...

What if the Flames won the Stanley Cup this year?

What if the Flames don’t make the playoffs this year?

What if Darryl Sutter doesn’t make it through the season?

What if Iginla scores 50 again?

What if Olli scores 40?

What if Olli scores 10?

What if Tanguay has 50 assists this year?

What if Kipper wins the vezina?

What if Kipper got hurt?

What if Calgary skipped over the Keenan era?

What if the lockout never happened?

What if the lockout never ended?

What if the Gelinas goal actually counted?

What if Turek never got hurt?

What if the Flames never hired Sutter?

What if the Young Guns were actually good?

What if Darth Vader wasn’t actually Luke’s father?

What if the Flames never traded for Iginla?

What if the Flames never traded Gilmour?

What if 1989 never happened?

What if the Flames never drafted Theo Fleury?

What if the Flames didn’t trade Brett Hull?

What if 1986 actually happened?

What if Marty was in fact stuck in 1955?

What if the Flames never acquired Lanny McDonald?

What if Calgary never acquired the Flames?

As sports fans, as in life, we are bombarded with a million ‘what ifs’ every single day.

For the Calgary Flames, this has been a pre-season filled with too many ‘what ifs’ to even count.

Never has a season been such a question mark at the beginning of the year. Ok, maybe I’m over exaggerating a tad, but not too many people in the sports world can make heads or tails of this current Flames team. Sutter has successfully confused the entire hockey world with his irregular maneuvers.

Maybe he IS the mastermind he makes himself out to be. Then again, maybe not.

Either way I think John Lennon was onto something, because it’s fun to think ‘what if,’ and it’s fun to dream up endless scenarios and possibilities for something you care far too much about.

Go Flames Go!

Have a good weekend!

Newman

twitter.com/TSRNewman

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Olli Jokinen: Here We Go Again

Jokinen at the Red vs. White game

With the news that Olli Jokinen has suffered a minor injury in last night’s pre-season tilt with the Phoenix Coyotes, I thought it was time to look deeper into the man they call the Joker.


If you read my column, and I believe there is maybe one person out there who does (Hi Dad!), you know I have never, how can I best put it, enjoyed having Olli Jokinen troll the ice wearing the Flaming C. When he was traded in the fire sale last season, I was elated, even if the Flames received two NHL wash-outs in return.

But to understand the situation in its present state, let us go back to the beginning when the Flames initially traded for Olli.

Upon his arrival in Calgary Jokinen blossomed instantaneously.

He scored eight goals and added another two assists in those first six games with the Flames; including a five-point night against the Toronto Maple Leafs. However, the Flames lost four for those six games and blew one of the biggest division leads ever to the Vancouver Canucks and ended up facing Chicago in the first round of the playoffs. And, well, we all know how that turned out.