A lot of Calgary Flames fans were hoping their team would present an adequate response following 2 unimpressive games against Minnesota and Columbus. Well, I think they got more than that on Saturday night in Vancouver, as they took a 3-2 shootout win over the Canucks. As a result, Calgary improves their record to 26-14-5 and moves to 3-1 against Vancouver this season.
Head Coach Brent Sutter challenged the team after Friday’s 3-2 loss at home to Columbus. I guess you can say message received. This rivals, and to me surpasses, the first game in Nashville for Calgary’s best 60 minute effort of the season. To me, Calgary was controlling and/or dominant right from the get-go and did not let up once. Did Vancouver have a couple of spurts of some sustained pressure? Sure, but that’s hockey. But there was never any let-up or deviation from the plan for Calgary tonight…and when that happens, well, look what happens.
Did Vancouver play great? No. But as much of that, in my mind, was how Calgary played. The challenge now is for Calgary to carry this through to Monday night against Colorado. The Flames have yet to win a game against Colorado this season, but the main thing is the C word. Consistency. We won’t know what this win does for consistency for a little while, but lets hope it’s big.
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Hey Steinberg, what was with the Talking Heads on HNIC who were saying that Regher had lost a step, and that Canucks were focusing on this. More like Regher was luring them into his private “abatoir”!!!
- curmudgeon