Flames downed in Opener

By Derrick Newman

Watching the Flames home opener last night, you couldn’t helped be filled with a little bit of optimism heading into a brand new season where anything is possible and dreams of a playoff berth seem realistic.

After one period, everything looked great. The Flames were up 1-0 on the Penguins, despite being outshot 9-4.

Then it all went downhill – fast.

Four goals in the span of just over 11 minutes and the Flames were left wondering which way is up.

When you produce only nine shots through two periods, you don’t really deserve to be in the game anyways.

The Penguins are simply a better hockey team, and it was clearly evident last night. Even without the best hockey player in the planet on their roster, they picked apart the Flames like they were an AHL team.

Last night was simply a display of a cup contender taking on a fringe playoff team and the drastic difference between the two.

The Flames looked decent for a about five minutes of the opening period, but then came off that high very quickly and back down to harsh reality.

Sure the Flames made a valiant last ditch effort to get back in the game, but how eerily familiar was that to so many games last season?

You can say what you want about this being the first game of the season and not to worry just yet, but this was just a prime example of how far removed the Flames are from being an elite team in this league.

\Side Note: I read in Eric Francis’ column on Thursday or Friday that Brent Sutter is “one of the best most accomplished coaches in the league.” Please explain to me how a guy who has never made it out of the first round of the playoffs as a coach and missed the playoffs in back-to-back years is considered an “accomplished coach.” Sure, he has accolade for his achievements in junior, but that doesn’t always translate. Don Hay is a great junior coach, but failed miserably at the pro level. I just don’t understand why Sutter gets all this praise for being this amazing coach, yet all he’s done is lead the Flames to back-to-back early golf seasons.

Check out the latest Jersey Fouls! from last night's game HERE!
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Far From Dead Birds

It is June 12, 2009. The Pittsburgh Penguins have just walked into Joe Louis Arena and beaten the defending Stanley Cup Champion Detroit Red Wings, exacting their revenge on the team that robbed them one year prior. Move ahead one year to the 2009-10season, where the Penguins finished the season in fourth place in the Eastern conference, only to run into a hot goalie and be bounced from the playoffs in the second round. Since October 2007, the team had played a total of 303 games in slightly more than 1000 days. That is an astounding amount of hockey, going to the finals in two of those seasons, leaving very little time off to rest, relax, and recharge the batteries.