In his pre-game comments to the media prior to Thursday’s match in Los Angeles, Flame GM Jay Feaster was emphatic he didn’t want media types, by extension fans and his players discussing injuries.

In a news briefing called to update the teams’ 8 injured players, Feaster got emotional underscoring that injuries would not be an excuse. The less said, about the better noting he didn’t want it to become a crutch for the team.

Then Feaster’s Flames went out and won 2-1 in a shootout over the LA Kings.

They superbly executed a game plan designed to make the game’s pace slow and a plan necessary to have a shot at success when forced to play without regular players.

This type of disciplined structure requires brilliant goaltending and again Miikka Kiprusoff provided that.  He made 31 saves over 65 minutes and plus another on 2 shots in the shootout.

He gave up a goal 3:28 into the game to Dustin Brown.
The Flames got that one back with another necessary ingredient to survive, a PPG from Jarome Iginla.

In the shootout, the Flames scored on both shots on Jonathan Quick and the deciding tally by Mike Cammalleri.

The win ended a 6-game road losing streak and the first win in LA after 4-straight losses.

The Flames head to Edmonton for Saturday’s game just 2 pts out of a playoff spot.

….And the injuries Feaster reported about. The worst news is that top goalgetter Curtis Glencross is on IR with a knee injury. He’ll be out for a while. The good news is that Alex Tanguay and Brendan Morrison could play as soon as Saturday.

The other 5?  Getting closer to playing, but not real close.
Enough said.

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