Fourth Line Dominance

Saying that our fourth line was good for the first game was one thing. The second game, impressive. The third straight game in which the fourth line outperforms the other three is astounding and re-iterates the immense amount of depth on this Flames squad.

Let’s look at the stats for the first 3 games:
Sjostrom- 2 A, and a Plus 3
Nystrom- 2 G, 1A, a plus 5, and 1 fight
Prust-1 G, Plus 3 and 2 fights.

Not to mention they never quit skating and create insane energy when on the ice. Sjostrom’s speed is up there with Glencross and the hands of both Prust and Nystrom or very underrated. Although Nystrom’s hat trick was rescinded he still had a fabulous tip in and great reflex shot over Jaroslav Halak. These guys can skate, hit, fight and score and they are the Flames 4TH LINE!

With this added depth, it is hard to say that this is not the deepest the Flames been since the early nineties. Not to mention we have Jason Jaffray in the press box, fresh off an impressive pre season campaign and chomping at the bit to get into the action.

And it’s not just our low end forwards that are providing the spunk, it’s also the back end lesser lights that have really shown they belong. The emergence of Adam Pardy has to be mentioned. He already has amassed one goal, two assists, is a plus 5 and has had some timely hits in the first three games. Remember, he had 10 points all of last year. Stefan Kronwall has been an admirable replacement for Cory Sarich and is a tower on skates. Mark Giordano has matured by leaps and bounds in the past year and his smooth skating ability and “calm under pressure” mentality has easily moved him up the depth chart; not to mention a fantastic block at the end of the game tonight.

The Flames look good; their depth has been proven over the first three games of the season. Kipper has been fantastic, minus the third goal tonight, and without him we are winless, not unbeaten.

If the Iggy and Jokinen wake up, hopefully tonight was the start, and the defence tightens up on late period mental lapses, then watch out for the Flaming C!

This has been,

Newman on the Flames