Flames Vs. Sharks… Playoffs Already?
Wow, what a game! The Calgary Flames hand the San Jose Sharks their first regulation home loss of the season. In fact, it’s the first time the Sharks have lost in regulation in the Shark Tank since February 14 of last season (that is truly unbelievable). This game was intense and had everything you would expect from two of the premiere teams in the NHL. It felt very much like this game was being played in May.
Watching the Oilers vs. Wild game just prior to watching the Flames vs. Sharks was like watching a WHL pre-season game prior to an NHL playoff game.
I don’t recall seeing a Flames squad with this much confidence. They seem undaunted. They are calm, cool, and collective in any situation and don’t seem to panic when they fall behind by a goal or two. This speaks to the maturity of the club and the fantastic job being done by the coaching staff.
Curtis Glencross (one of the phenomenal off-season pickups by Sutter) was incredible at both ends of the ice in the game. It’s unfortunate that his name didn’t show up on the score sheet - he very much deserved a point or two tonight. I am curious to know what the Oilers management was thinking when they let this guy go. It was also nice to see Phaneuf get that monkey off his back. A hard working goal and a game winner to boot.
Kipper continued his stellar play tonight. His confidence level seems to be rising exponentially along with the rest of the team. After his shaky start to the season, he has really picked up his game. He leads the NHL with games won and is now 4 games ahead of Nabokov in second place. I know Kipper really likes to play a ton of games, and he seems to be handling the pressure fine. I only hope he can continue to perform at this level while playing so many games.
This weekends games should be amazing!
January 16th, 2009 at 2:25 pm
“… don’t seem to panic when they fall behind by a goal or two.”
I didn’t catch much of the game, but based on what I did see, this embodies things perfectly. How many teams would fold up the tent after allowing a goal 60 seconds in against the Sharks? The Flames bounced back immediately last night.
January 16th, 2009 at 4:18 pm
I’m gonna go as far as to say a combination of a Mellowing Mike Keenan to guys who embody everything that Darryl Sutter wants in a Hockey team is the reason for this kind of attitude we’re seeing from the Flames.
When Jarome doesn’t score, it’s not as big an issue… when Dion is slumping… it’s not an issue… the pickups of Bourque and Glencross are HUGE along with a Keenan favourite in Bertuzzi…
By the way, Joe Thorton’s goal was scored with Dion Phaneuf covering him, this seems to go into the Darryl Sutter reasoning that Dion is consistently playing against the other teams best players and a contributor to his slump…