Standing among the fans in walkaway in front of the Upper Loge Saddledome seat section after the 2nd period on Friday night more than one spectator commented, “Bring on the Red Wings.”

  Even though the Flames lead over St. Louis was a mere 2-1, Mike Keenan’s team had so thoroughly dominated the Blues in the 2nd period they clearly were the superior team. The Flames had outshot the Blues 20-11 only the brilliant of goalie Chris Mason prevented the Blues from being wiped out.

   Perhaps in the Flames dressing room during the 2nd intermission the players started saying to themselves, “bring on the Red Wings.”

   The Flames play on the 3rd period wasn’t even a shadow of the 2nd. The Blues jumped on them for two goals in a 51-second span at the midway point and massaged it for a 3-2 win.

   The Blues were a desperate and supposedly tired team. They were 4 points from  a playoff spot. Thery had lost 7-straight games in the Saddledome. They were playing for the second straight night and for the 7th time in 11 days.

   The Flames failed to take advantage. Their perfiormance in the first and 3rd period did them in.

   Since the trade deadline when GM Darryl Sutter made a couple of moves that most of us thought had strengthened the team, the Flames have compiled a 3-5 record. They dropped from a having a 10-point lead at the top of the NW Division to a mere 3 points over Vancouver. That would be whittled to one point should the Canucks win in Phoenix Saturday.

   On paper, this is a solid Flame collection. The best the team has had here in years. No games are won on paper. To be a success the team needs to start playing with urgency for a full 60 minutes.

   A good time to start would be Monday against the Red Wings.

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