Feeling Good

The Flames came out firing (no pun intended) on the Blue Jackets tonight. A well rested team hungry to re pay Columbus for a loss one week ago, the Flames took control of the game from the drop of the puck. Except for getting into some penalty trouble at the beginning and end of the second stanza, the Flames controlled much of the 5 on 5 play and came out with a the win.

This was Jarome Iginla’s 09’ coming out party as well, a welcoming sign for all Flames fans. He had two assists in the first and then contributed a vintage Iginla leg-pump-top-cheddar goal off the cross bar in the third period to seal the deal for the Flames. He came out skating hard and did not let up throughout the game. His line, alongside Conroy and Glencross, was responsible for 2 of the first 3 Flames goals and tallied 6 points on the night.

On a night where Steve Mason was not at his best, the Flames took advantage of the shaky sophomore and put 6 goals past him; only Iginla’s was of the highlight variety. The difference from Flames teams of old tonight was the simple ability to exploit a weak goaltender. The Flames were out shot, again, by the opposing team but managed to get 6 goals on only 22 shots. Kipper faced 30 shots for the 6th time this season. Tonight was slightly different as the Jackets had 7 power play chances including two 5 on 3 advantages, on some “interesting” officiating.

One troubling thing that I found watching the game tonight was the complete ineffectiveness of Olli Jokinen. He consistently underwhelms every time he is on the ice. The Flames are paying this guy $5.5 million for what exactly. He has One, Uno, Un, Eins, yksi goal on the season. Remember that snipe to the top shelf? Oh wait, it was a dribbler from outside the blue line in that rollercoaster Blackhawk game, not exactly the output we were expecting from this guy. This was his scouting report coming in here though; a top grade player that tends to disappear for weeks at a time. This is true, as he has one regular season goal dating back to March of last season. He is being outplayed by a number of players on this team; Sjostrom, Nystrom, Bourque and Glencross to name a few. A concern for Flames fans, maybe?

Lombardi has one less point and makes $3 million less, just saying.

The Flames are 6-2-1 and if they manage to beat the Oilers on Saturday will card 7 wins in the month of October for first time in some while.

Everything is coming up Milhouse!

This has been,

Newman on the Flames