The most popular question surrouding the Flames this off-season — who is gonna score?

   Through the first 10 games of this campaign the question is gone — the Flames are a goal a game better than a year ago after downing Edmonton, 5-2 on Saturday.

   The concern was with Mike Cammalleri and Todd Bertuzzi gone where would the team find the 56 goals they provided last term.

   Averaging 4.1 goals per game this year’s squad has 7 players with 3-or-more goals. Last season through 10 games only 3 players scored that many.

   The 10-goal improvement is even more remarkable when its considered that captain Jarome Iginla is 3 goals and 4 points off his pace from a year ago.

    After 10 games in 2008-09, Iginla led the Flames in scoring with his 6 goals and 12 points.  The 6 goals tied him with Bertuzzi.

    Now the top point-getter is Rene Bourque with 14 points, which for him is an 8 point improvement.  Bourque’s 5 goals tie defenseman Dion Phaneuf for the club lead.  Where Cammalleri had 4 goals and 11 points last October, now Nigel Dawes, Curtis Glencross and Eric Nystrom all have 4 goals.

   With Phaneuf leading the charge, defensemen have bolstered the offense.  In all, five blueliners have contributed 8 goals. A year ago 2 defensemen had provided only 3 goals.

   Miikka Kiprusoff, who may well have been the Flames best player over the first 10 games with his key saves at key times, has a slightly better GAA this time around.

   This year’s Flames with 15 points have 2 more than last season at this stage. Now they are in 2nd place in the NW Division 3 points behind red hot Colorado, who they face on Wednesday.  Last year’s team was sharing first place with Minnesota. 

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 25th, 2009 at 10:01 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.