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I think we can all agree that the Calgary Flames put in a 60 minute effort on Monday night in Nashville, dispatching one of the hottest teams in the NHL in very impressive fashion…a 5-0 win and a club record 10 game point streak on the road.

With the win, the Flames also set a team record with 22 points in the month of November, and this was a pretty good way to finish off the eleventh month of the year.  Right from the get-go, Calgary was primed and ready to go…and they were playing strong, fundamentel hockey in all 3 areas of the ice.  Those things carried over throughout the entire game…they were positionally sound in the defensive zone and had great back pressure and support.  The sticks and pursuit in the neutral zone made it extremely difficult for Nashville to get any sort of momentum.  And Calgary was great at keeping the puck down low in the offensive zone…the cycle was consistent, and it lead to some great scoring opportunities for the Flames.

What I really liked, and what everyone else will like coming from this game…2 things.  Calgary did a great job of keeping the Predators to the outside.  How did they do that?  Great positional play and great puck support.  The Preds couldn’t do much setting up, because there was always a Flame supporting the play.  And when a 1-on-1 battle set up, the Flames were coming away the victors from those board battles.  Very impressive.

What can you say about Miikka Kiprusoff?  His 2nd consecutive shutout in net, this time making 22 saves for the goose-egg.  As a result, #34 has stretched his shutout string to 129:30…he was named the first star of the game, the 9th time in 14 November games he’s been one of the 3 stars.  He wasn’t overly busy, or called upon to save or steal a game…but he made big saves when called upon, and made sure the Preds couldn’t draw momentum from a timely goal.

This was a game where everyone was good for the Flames…all 4 lines were rolling, with only 10 players playing elss than 10 minutes (Freddie Sjostrom played 9:54, Brian McGrattan played 5:05).  A 3 point night for Curtis Glencross…his first multi-point game of the season.  Both David Moss and Nigel Dawes have 4 game point streaks, while Dawes also has a 4 game goal streak.  Jarome Iginla and Olli Jokinen have 3 game point streaks…Iginla now has 20 points in 14 November games, Jokinen sits with 14 points in 14 November games.  Jokinen now has points in 10 of his last 12 games.

The Flames play in Phoenix on Thursday…follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/Steinberg960.

It took 79 seconds for the Calgary Flames to erase a 3-1 deficit and put them on the right track towards a 4-3 Flames shootout win in Columbus on Saturday night.  You can make it 9 straight games with a point for Calgary on the road, and the Flames now sit 9-1-3 away from home.  It was a good 3rd period and a solid finish for the Flames, who clearly rattled a young Jackets team.

On the game…I thought Calgary’s 3rd period push was a little late, but it eventually came and it was successful.  The fact Calgary was able to stick with it as the 3rd period went along was impressive again…the 3rd period continues to be when this team plays their best hockey.  Over the last 5 games, the Flames have outscored their opponents 8-1 in the final frame.  Calgary got a little sloppy in the 2nd period, and they payed for it…as Brent Sutter said, they didn’t play smart hockey in the last 10 minutes or so of the 2nd period.  But they did some good things in the opening 30 minutes and got back to them when they needed to.

Was Curtis McElhinney great in this game?  Well, no.  But he stuck with it and played well in the 3rd period, making some big saves before the Flames came back to tie this game.  The Methot and Boll goals were not good, and he gave up some big rebounds.  But give the guy credit and give the team credit…they both stuck with it and both were rewarded.  You wonder how big that is for the confidence of a young goaltender…he wins his first game back on November 4th, has to wait 24 days to get back in, and wins a game in a totally different way.

The tandem of Olli Jokinen and Jarome Iginla were very good once again…make it 18 points in 13 November games for Iginla, and make it points in 9 of 11 games for Jokinen.  Olli is looking a whole lot more comfortable, and you can tell things are coming a whole lot more naturally for him.  What else can you say about Jay Bouwmeester…he was unreal for the 26:12 he played on the ice, and Dion Phaneuf was very good tonight as well.  Dion lead all skaters with 27:52 of ice time and fired 13 shots towards the Columbus net, 5 of them getting through.

You could tell the Flames rattled this Jackets team…it’s a young team and they didn’t have a response once Boyd scored to get this game within 1 goal.  That’ll get better as things go along, but you could tell the Flames got them scrambling in the 3rd.  Flames are in Nashville on Monday.  Follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/Steinberg960.

Another road win for the Calgary Flames, another brilliant performance for Miikka Kiprusoff, and another couple points for Jarome Iginla.  Things like that are starting to become par for the course as the Calgary Flames took a 3-0 win over the Detroit Red Wings on Friday night.

It’s a pretty good way to start a 6 game road trip for the Flames, which takes them to Columbus on Saturday.  Now, it wasn’t perfect…they were chasing a little bit in the first 40 minutes, specifically in the 2nd period.  But sometimes there are going to be games where you’re outshot (40-17), and there are going to be games where you need to rely on your goaltender.  But the ability to WIN those games is something that is not automatic to every team…what we’ve seen is the Flames do have the ability to find ways to win.

This game could have spiralled out of Calgary’s control heading into the final frame…they were outshot 17-5 in the 2nd period and had let Detroit control far too much possession.  But, they realized they were chasing too much in middle frame and corrected that in a big way in the final frame.  Calgary limited Detroit to just 8 shots in 3rd period, and few of those shots were quality scoring opportunities.  This time they didn’t find a way to win in the third, instead they closed a game out in the third.

Not a whole lot more you can say about Miikka Kiprusoff…I still believe he’s the best goaltender in the NHL right now, with no doubt in my mind.  There is not a goaltender in this league playing consistent, elite hockey like #34 is.  Jarome Iginla now has 16 points in 12 November games, with 2 assists on this night.  And Olli Jokinen now has points in 8 of 10 games…he was very good tonight.

Calgary has scored first in 10 of 12 road games this year, and 19 of 24 games overall…they’re now 13-3-3 when scoring the first goal.  Calgary’s also improved to 12-0-1 when leading a game after 40 minutes of play.  It’s an 8 game road point streak for the Flames and an 8-1-3 record overall away from home.

As for Detroit…I just don’t know what you do if you’re Mike Babcock.  Your team has fired 80 shots on net in the last 2 games and have scored a grand total of 0 goals.  Over 6 games, Detroit has fired 217 shots on net and scored just 5 goals.  But do you change anything?  Or do you just wait for the levy to break?

Follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/Steinberg960.

Head Coach Brent Sutter was pretty darn positive after a 2-1 win for the Calgary Flames over the Phoenix Coyotes on Wednesday night.  The Flames were able to score the first goal, see the game get tied and then score an even strength goal late in the 3rd period.  They got another great performance from Miikka Kiprusoff and used a Nigel Dawes goal to take the win.

After a sloppy 1st period for the Flames, Calgary turned it up in the 2nd period and came away with an 11-4 shot advantage in the second frame.  The final 40 minutes was a pretty good example of what the Flames are looking for on a night in, night out basis.  The back pressure was really good, the sticks were great through the neutral zone, and they made it extremely hard on the Coyotes in the offensive zone.  While the Coyotes had trouble doing anything offensively of their own, the Flames kept it hemmed down deep for good periods of time.  I really liked the Flames in the final 40.

Good on Nigel Dawes…he scored his first goal in 12 games, and his first since October 24th, and it came at a pretty damn good time.  Dawes joked about it after, and admitted he was counting too…and the line of Dawes, Langkow and Moss was really good all night long.  Langkow continues to impress me both even strength and on the penalty kill; he’s one of the few guys who sees significant time on both the PK and PP.  Sometimes it seems like that line is missing Rene Bourque, but when they’re working hard it’s still a very effective line.

Olli Jokinen and Jarome Iginla both had their 5 game point streak snapped, while Curtis Glencross made it 3 consecutive games with points.  For Jokinen, wow…we’re talking about a guy who is truly fighting it.  He had some damn good opportunities, and just couldn’t cash in once again.  And the Flames powerplay is getting tough to watch…they only went 0-for-1 on this night, but it just seemed totally out of sync.  Calgary is now 6 for their last 51 on the man advantage, which is 11.8%.

Flames hit the road for 6 games in 10 days, starting in Detroit on Friday.  Follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/Steinberg960.

First off, I’m coming away from Calgary’s 3-2 shootout loss in Anaheim with a very positive vibe surrounding the team.  Once again, the team came to play in the 3rd and were able to force this thing to extra time.  But it also left you wondering just how good this team could be if they played like that for a full 60.

Again, a ton of positives in this hockey game.  They extend their road point streak to 7 games and up their record to 7-1-3 away from home.  They started strong, scoring the first goal of the hockey game for the 17th time this season in 22 games (11-3-3).  They Flames have also opened the scoring in 9 of 11 road games this season.  Calgary fired a season high 43 shots on net, and they weren’t pansy perimiter shots…they were legit shots for the most part.  And of course, the Flames came to play in the third period.

For the third time this season, the Flames were able to score late in a hockey game with the goaltender out.  The first was in Edmonton, the second in Dallas and now this…plus, Calgary had a hell of final frame period.  They fired 18 shots on the Anaheim net, which is the 2nd highest shot total in a period all season.  And they controlled things and were rewarded for it with Iginla’s goal with 18 seconds remaining.  For the captain, he know has 14 points, and 12 goals, in 10 November games.

But you wonder just how good this team could be if things were like that on a more stretched out basis.  Calgary stopped skating a bit in the second period, and as a result, took 3 second period penalties.  Now, the PK was very good, but Anaheim controlled the middle frame regardless.  And the 68 second lapse Calgary had in the first was very similar to the 38 second span they had on Saturday in LA.  The Flames are still working on getting their game at the right level on a consistent basis.

I do wonder about the powerplay…they’re now 6 for their last 50 over 12 games, including an 0-4 on this night.  I think it’ll get there, but you certainly wonder why there hasn’t been as much success when the team is a man up.  I’ll say this much though, they moved the puck nicely and got some shots on the PP…so I do think it’s getting there.

The Flames take on Phoenix on Wednesday.  Follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/Steinberg960.

The Calgary Flames got it done when it mattered once again on Saturday afternoon…buckling down in a 2-2 tie after 40 minutes to take a 5-2 win over the Los Angeles Kings at the Staples Center.  It’s been their calling card throughout most of the season, and a strong 3rd period with the game on the line was the story once again on this day.  Coming off a 7-1 loss at home to Chicago, I think most will be happy with how Calgary responded.

Calgary lapsed in the 2nd period, and the Kings were able to take the lead, but I felt that was the only really lull in their game.  The team came out a little flat to start the middle frame, and the first 4 minutes weren’t very good.  But after Head Coach Brent Sutter called his timeout following Frolov’s goal, I felt Calgary snapped back into it…so I guess they played a 56 minute game on this night.  After playing garbage hockey for too long on Thursday, I think I’ll take that.

Once again the third period was real good for the Flames, and this was probably their best 3rd period all year long.  They controlled it from start to finish and ended up outshooting the Kings 13-5 in the final frame, and they did a really nice job of limiting any traction from LA.  Maybe Calgary plays better in games that are close throughout…because they played some very good hockey in LA, and the same was true for games in Buffalo and Montreal.  Calgary’s now 7-1-2 on the road and 13-6-2 overall.

Oh yeah…Jarome Iginla’s okay.  That’s his 9th career hat-trick, and he now has 13 points in 9 games in the month of November…11 of those points are goals.  He’s now second in the NHL in goals, and is playing dangerous hockey game in and game out.  Calgary’s powerplay was a little better, going 2 for 7.  They could have done some real damage in the 3rd period, but they scored on a 5 on 3 and were able to put the game away on the PP as well.  I’ll take it.  I also thought Calgary’s skating was a real reason why the Kings took 7 penalties.  Calgary’s PK was perfect for the first time in 3 games.

Follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/Steinberg960.

Not a whole lot more you can say following a 7-1 loss for the Calgary Flames at the hands of the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday night.  It was a debacle and it was a team that completely checked out after playing a really tight, close checking game for 22 minutes or so.  The Flames have now lost 2 straight games and have lost once again to the ‘Hawks.

In hearing from Head Coach Brent Sutter following the game, you could tell there’s a lot of frustration going on.  He was quick to say that “this didn’t just happen tonight, it’s been something we’ve been dealing with all season.”  What he was talking about?  The mental toughness of his hockey team.  He wants his team to get angry, he wants his team to show emotion, he wants his team to answer the bell all the time.  And that’s something he’s struggling with right now, or at the very least, it’s something he’s working through right now.

You could look at 2 “turning points” in this hockey game, both in the 2nd period.  First, after Calgary tied things at 1, Niklas Hjalmarsson levelled Rene Bourque with a clean hit.  Nigel Dawes immediately jumped his man and gave the Hawks their 3rd powerplay of the game (they were 1 for 2 previously).  Kris Versteeg scored on a re-direct to give the Hawks the lead back.  Following that, Colin Fraser took an elbowing call and gave the Flames a powerplay to try and get things tied up again…but a huge save from Cristobal Huet on Jay Bouwmeester really seemed to suck the air out of the Flames.  And then it was 5 successive goals from Chicago.

Special teams are certainly not special right now.  Calgary’s powerplay did score on this night, but it’s scored just 4 times on their last 39 opportunities over their last 10 games.  The penalty kill is what’s really the question mark at this point.  Heading into the Buffalo game, the man advantage had surrendered just 2 goals on their previous 28 opportunities.  Since then, they’ve allowed 8 goals on 18 opportunities.  Yes, it gets inflated by the 4 powerplay goals against Chicago…but it wasn’t doing the job to the right level prior to that.

But the most telling thing on this night were the comments from Sutter postgame.  He was not happy but he was 100% honest, or as close to it as a Head Coach can be.  He laid it on the line, saying he wants more from his players when it comes to being engaged all the time mentally.  He’s a damn good coach and if there’s a coach that can get the most out of this team, it’s him.  But you can certainly tell he’s not impressed right now.

Follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/Steinberg960.

The Calgary Flames had their 6 game point streak snapped on Tuesday night as they fell 3-2 at home to the Colorado Avalanche.  While you come away with a lot of things from this one, I came away with one prevailing thought in this hockey game.  The Calgary Flames are a better team than Colorado when the Flames are playing up to snuff…the problem is, they didn’t do it consistently on this night.

When Calgary was hitting on all cylinders in this game, it seemed like it was going to be tough to shut them down.  They were beating the Avalanche to pucks, they were physical, and they were efficient.  This happened a bunch of times throughout the game, and the Avalanche didn’t have an answer.  However, it went from that to all kinds of mental lapses and bad decisions in a hurry…and that was a problem.  Players were pinching too early, giving it away up the middle, missing passes and getting hit off pucks in the neutral zone.

On the flip side, Colorado was strikingly (and sometimes numbingly) consistent.  Even when they fell down in this game for the first time, nothing changed…that was the same thing I noticed in the first meeting between the 2 teams.  Joe Sacco’s team didn’t change anything they were doing once they allowed a Rene Bourque shorthanded goal, and that impressed me.  So, is this Avalanche team extremely talented?  Well, no they’re not…but you can tell they’re committed and are buying into what the coach is saying.

As was talked about prior to the game, special teams was a factor on this night.  Calgary’s powerplay was dismal once again, going without a goal on 3 lackluster opportunities.  Over their last 9 games, Calgary’s PP is 3 for 33 which is good for 9.1%…and you take that Jay Bouwmeester late PP goal in the Toronto game OUT of the equation?  2 for 32 at 6.3%.  And Calgary’s PK has allowed a powerplay goal in their last 3 games…it was really clicking prior to that, but they’ve now allowed 4 goals on 13 opponent opportunities…that’s not good.

Ugh, and the faceoffs were NOT good…they finished 37% in the dot, including a dismal 2 for 12 from Dustin Boyd.  Yikes.  Credit the Avalanche…24 blocked shots, and that might have been low.  Good night for Jarome Iginla; he has 9 points in 7 November games including 8 goals.  He was solid once again.  And don’t point any fingers at Miikka Kiprusoff, he was just fine.

Next up for the Flames, the Blackhawks on Thursday night.  Follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/Steinberg960.

I wasn’t the only one a little surprised when the news came down that Miikka Kiprusoff would get the start in net for the Calgary Flames Saturday night in Toronto…but I think we can all say it wasn’t such a bad decision.  Especially after Kipper made 38 saves to backstop the Flames to a 5-2 win in Toronto, their first win in TO since December of 2000.

Now, this was not a great hockey game for the Calgary Flames…that goes without saying.  They were okay in the first period but too loose, and that carried over and got worse in the second period…when you’re being outshot 20-4 in any period, it’s all you need to know.  And it’s all  you needed to know about the 2nd period in this hockey game.  They were loose, they were not playing as 5 man units, and they weren’t skating.  BUT, they still exited the middle frame leading by a 3-2 score.

The Flames are now 10-0-1 when leading after 2 periods of play, and once again, the team came out to play when the game was on the line…they shut things down in the 3rd period and scored 2 big goals.  So, once again, it wasn’t perfect, but by hook or by crook…the Flames still lead into the third period.  And once again, they made sure the lead wasn’t going to get away.  So we can pick things apart, but the fact of the matter is, the Calgary Flames are finding ways to win.  In mid-November, that’s not a bad trait to be talking about.

What a game for both Robyn Regehr and Dion Phaneuf; both were +4 and both were very good all night long.  For Regehr, he’s now +13 in his last 11 games after starting the season -6.  Dustin Boyd was very good once again, coming away with 2 points and he had a strong game for the second straight night.  There’s a bit of a groundswell to see Boyd on the PP…after these last 2 games, I’m not going to disagree with that.  Oh…and that Kiprusoff guy?  He’s all right.  In his last 5 games, #34 has made 157 saves on 162 shots which is good for a .969% save percentage.

The Flames get back at it on Tuesday…they earn 5 of a possible 6 points on a 3 game road trip.  Follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/Steinberg960.

You can forgive some who follow the Calgary Flames for being pretty darn impressed with what the saw on Friday night, even though their team fell 2-1 in a shootout to the Buffalo Sabres.  It was a great game from start to finish, and it was 2 really good hockey teams going head to head.

The positives are fairly numerous for the Flames…they were skating, they were intense, they were engaged and were strong for most of this hockey game.  The final 45 minutes of this hockey game were very well played by the Flames…they were drawing penalties, they were generating offence, they were strong defensively and they grinded things out.

The tale of this game saw the Sabres with the edge in the 1st period, while Calgary was the better team in the middle frame…both teams brought it in the final 20, and it was a hell of an overtime as well.  This is a very good Sabres team, and the Flames were right there with them and had opportunities to win this game.

I know some won’t be happy with the 1 goal for Calgary, but I think Head Coach Brent Sutter will take a 1-1 game like that any day over some of the loosey goosey, higher scoring wins we’ve seen earlier this season from the Flames.  Were there good scoring opportunities for the Sabres?  Yes, there were.  But I think the consistency of Calgary’s defensive game continues to come along, and that’s encouraging to see.  Let’s not forget that Calgary has allowed just 5 goals in their last 5 games.

The PK was great once again, even though they did allow the Roy goal.  Calgary has allowed just 2 powerplay goals in 26 tries.  Kiprusoff was money in net once again…through 4 games, he’s made 119 saves on 122 shots against.  Robyn Regehr continues to play well, he’s +9 over his last 10 games…Giordano and Phaneuf had nice games on the blueline.  Calgary blocked 13 shots and deflected about 700 more, and that continues to be a glaring strength of this team.

But what about that powerplay?  Calgary’s man advantage is now just 2/28 over the last 7 games…that’s 7.1%.  I’m not sure what the problem is…the movement is there, the shots are there, but it just seems like maybe there’s a little come-down from Calgary’s intensity when they get up a man.  It’s something Brent Sutter addressed after the game, and it’s something we all know he’ll address with his team behind closed doors.

Next up for the Flames is Saturday night on the road in Toronto…gametime is 5 pm.  Follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/Steinberg960.