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.

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