It was a waste of a quality start from Miikka Kiprusoff…that seemed to be the refrain from Calgary Flames players and coaches following Friday’s 2-1 overtime loss at the hands of the Minnesota Wild.  It’s only Minnesota’s 4th win in Calgary ever…and it was a pretty impressive performance from the visitors.  But the overwhelming theme was the play of #34 in net…he made 44 saves in a losing effort.

Kiprusoff was incredible on Friday…it started with the Wild peppering the Flames net in the first little bit of the 1st with a lot of shots, but not a ton of quality opportunities.  But as the opening frame rolled on, the chances started turning into better scoring opportunities…and Kiprusoff continually raised his game.  He made 19 saves in the opening frame, and then 10 and 14 in the second and third periods respectively.  The pucks that got past him?  A weird bounce off the end boards and a 3-on-1 break in overtime.  Other than that…unreal.  Assistant Coach Dave Lowry said following the game that “our goaltender gave us a chance to win…it’s a shame to waste a start like that.”

Now, granted…the Flames did salvage a point from this game.  They were outplayed for most of this hockey game, and relied on their goaltender far too much.  But they scored a goal in the third period, and even after a subpar performance, they leave the game with more points than they entered with.  If Calgary can come out with a “back to what we’re used to” game on Sunday in Denver, getting a point here looks a whole lot better.  However, none of that covers the fact that this was not a solid effort for Calgary.

Why was it a subpar effort?  From what we saw and from what we heard from the coaches and players…a few things.  Assistant Rob Cookson said in the Hot Stove Lounge it might have been a case of getting so prepared to play the FIRST game back off a road trip, that you have a little lull in the second game back.  The second reason, which Cookson also pointed towards, was the Flames falling into the type of hockey Minnesota was playing.  They were playing tight checking hockey and not giving the Flames much…and Calgary kind of let that happen.  The Flames weren’t able to establish a physical prowess, and had they done that, it might have started to change the way things were going.

But give the Wild credit…they fired 46 shots on net, and created some quality scoring chances.  They were full marks for the win.  The only other thing that was pointed to on this night by the players was, not surprisingly, the powerplay.  Another goose egg on the man advantage…they haven’t scored a PP goal in 5 games and have just 9 over their last 21 (in 77 opportunities).  On the flip side, Calgary’s kill remains stellar, killing off 5 tonight including a lengthy 2 man.  Over their last 11 games, Calgary has gone 35 for 38 on the PK.

Calgary’s in Colorado on Sunday.  Follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/Steinberg960.

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