Flames Split Back-to-Back

Courtesy: Calgary Herald

By Derrick Newman

First the Calgary Flames can’t score a goal to save their own lives in Chicago and make NHL cast-off Ray Emery look like the next coming of Jacques Plante. Then they look like the Edmonton Oilers of the high flyin’ 80s putting up four goals in a period and half in Colorado tonight. And in the end of this mini two game road trip the Flames looked like the Flames – white-knuckling the steering wheel and hovering the brake trying to desperately hold onto a four goal lead.

It has been said it’s the worst lead in hockey.

To give them credit, they registered the ‘W’ on the back half of back-to-back games – now 1-1 in that situation this season – and maintained their dominance over their division rivals with their 8^th straight win over the Avs.

None of this could have been possible without the stunning brilliance of Miikka Kiprusoff. He was outstanding in every facet of goaltending. He made save after save and enabled the Flames to inch closer to the .500 mark after dropping two straight and three of their previous four games.

Flames Moves: Youth Movement

By Derrick Newman

Some quick hits on the recent Flames moves...

In a flurry of activity on the Flames front Niklas Hagman was placed on waiver today and if, when, he clears he will be sent to Abbotsford. This move was made because Mikael Backlund will be activated from the IR tomorrow morning after sitting out the first 14 games with a broken pinky.

Also, Paul Byron was recalled from the Heat because Brendan Morrison was placed on the IR with what is basically being deemed as a failure to recover from knee surgery properly – or in English terms, he came back too soon.

Further to all this was the activity yesterday with Anton Babchuk being placed on the IR with a broken hand and TJ Brodie being recalled.

So with all this the team just got significantly younger and quicker with the likes of Brodie on the back end, and Backlund and Byron up the middle.

Seeing Hagman sends a serious message from ownership in that the dollar figure beside a players name means little to nothing as Hagman’s $3 million cap hit will be buried in the AHL.

The team is in need of a serious energy boost after starting the season a very mediocre 6-7-1 record and having recently scored only three goals in their past three games.

The team holds almost an identical record to 2010-11 version of Flames at this point in the season. 

The Flames are a league worst 2-for-34 on the powerplay at home this season, thanks large in part to Tuesday’s 0-for-7 outing, which included a five minute powerplay.

Sutter called out Alex Tanguay, saying he is too “soft” on the power play and very easy to play against because everyone knows what he is going to do. You can’t really disagree with that assessment as everyone in the Dome knows he is looking for #12 at all times.

They need to instil some much needed creativity into the man advantage unit and maybe with the addition of Backlund and possibly Brodie, you see that. Both guys will be chomping at the bit to make an early impact.

The Flames play the Blackhawks tomorrow night. The season series last year was 2-2 with the home team winning each time.  The Flames had great success on the PP versus the Hawks last year going 6-for-20 over the four game span. Maybe the Hawks are just what the doctor ordered.

The Flames are 3-3 on the road this season.

JERSEY FOULS!!!!


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Roman Empire: Horak looks to stick with the Flames

By Derrick Newman

Roman Horak is quickly allowing Calgary Flames fans to forget about Tim Erixon.

Horak, who came over from the New York Rangers for the highly touted Erixon, has been 2011’s version of TJ Brodie – in other words a rookie who has surprised everyone by sticking around in the big city.

With today’s demotions of both Paul Byron and Lance Bouma, it seems almost a given that Horak will make his NHL debut next Saturday against the Crosby-less Pittsburgh Penguins.

Chris Butler and Paul Byron: The Newest Flames

Chris Butler

So who exactly did the Flames get in return for Robyn Regehr?

Well, Their names are Chris Butler and Paul Byron. Butler is a defenceman who's played a couple seasons in the NHL with the Sabres and Byron is a small forward who played a handful of big league games but has mostly toiled in the minors. Byron can score, as is evident in his stats seen below. I wouldn't call the trade a write off quite yet.

Remember when we traded Theo Fleury to Colorado for some young defenceman named Reggie?