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Happy Halloween.

The most surprising Detroit stat to me is Nick Lidstrom’s 1 goal and 2 helpers, and while offensive numbers don’t always tell the tale the umpteen time Norris Trophy winner is not where he normally would be.

I am not particularly worried about the Red Wings I think they will adjust to the poor goaltending they are getting and find a way back into the hint for top spot in the division, why? Coaching, I think Mike Babcock and his crew are great teachers who are and will continue to make adjustments to keep their team in hockey games.

Lines

Glencross Conroy Iginla
Dawes Langkow Bourque
Sjostrom Jokinen Moss
Prust Boyd Nystrom

Regehr Phaneuf
Bouwmeester Sarich
Giordano Kronwall
Johnson Pardy

Kiprusoff

For the record Boyd was asked yesterday if he contracted H1N1, he said he wasn’t checked for which strain of flu he had, but said they did quarentine him at home.

Boyd is back at practice today skating on the fourth line with Nystrom and Prust.

Lines

Glencross Conroy Iginla
Dawes Langkow Bourque
Sjostrom Jokinen Moss
Prust Boyd Nystrom
McGratten

Regehr Phaneuf
Bouwmeester Sarich
Giordano Kronwall
Johnson Pardy

Detroit nearly pulled off the big comeback in Edmonton last night down 5-1, but would lose in a shootout 6-5 to the Oilers. The book on the Wings right now, no goaltending but they can still can score, putting up 10 goals in the last 2 games.

Last 2 times the Flames held an opponent to 14 shots, like they did against Colorado, they have lost by 1 goal.

Flames might be the healthiest team in the entire NHL, well I can’t back that up, I know this they are the healthiest team in the Northwest division, take while you have it.

Pay Per View game tonight, so Boom and Pat have you covered this afternoon and for the game on the FAN960 tonight.

If you come to the game tonight check out the Banners in the Flames end of the ice, the team has tried to clean them up and organize the history of the Team a bit better. One thing I had never though of but it has been changed, when Vernon had his number retired the banner they used was the current flames colors not his era’s colors, that has been changed.

Flames and the Avalanche tonight for the first time this season at the Dome, to say the Av’s are a surprise would be a massive understatement. Yet after watching them last night I do have the feeling that they aren’t going away any time soon, they aren’t flashy but they are quick and smart. My guess is the Flames are going to try and impose their physical will and beat them up.

No Boyd at practice today I suspect they are keeping him as far away as possible until the flu symptoms.

For the record the Oilers announced today that Smid has H1N1 and has played the last couple of games with it that would include Saturday against the Flames.

Lines
Glencross Conroy Iginla
Dawes Langkow Bourque
Sjostrom Jokinen Moss
Prust Nystrom McGrattan

Bouwmeester Sarich
Regehr Phaneuf
Giordano Johnson

Kronwall Pardy

Kiprusoff

Based on the feedback from yesterdays show that we were indeed all homers and that Iginla shouldn’t be playing until Souray comes back it is clear we continue to be the most listened to afternoon show in Edmonton.

Interesting early season fact of the day, Dustin Penner is tied for 1st in the NHL in even strength points with 11, the guy he is tied with just that guy from Washington who wears number 8.

I know the media will make a whole lot out of Pat Quinn’s comments after the October 8th game which saw Sheldon Souray injured when hit into the end boards by Iginla. Retribution was the word floating around yesterday, but I doubt very much that we will see a blatant attempt to “even the score”. That said I do believe it will be a physical game with probably a couple of tilts.

Lines
Glencross Conroy Iginla
Dawes Langkow Bourque
Sjostrom Jokinen Nystrom
Prust Boyd McGratten/Moss

Giordano Johnson
Bouwmeester Sarich
Regehr Phaneuf

Pardy Kronwall

Kiprusoff

Earlier today I was the mc for a press conference for Hockey Calgary as they announced some new initiatives to promote respect in hockey. Once again the Calgary Flames alumni were front and center, former Flame Perry Berezan is featured in a poster that will be seen around town in different rinks, encouraging parents to cheer with respect. Another former Flame Sheldon Kennedy has formed a company that has created a program called respect in sport that will be the basis of a new program aimed at hockey parents in Calgary. Also in attendance was Flames owner Harley Hotchkiss to lend his support to the new Hockey Calgary programs.

I bring this up only as a reminder of how active the Flames and particularly the alumni are in our community.

It pains me to say this but credit the Edmonton Oilers for a pretty gutsy performance at home against Columbus last night. Their room had been ravaged with the flu and they were being dominated by the Jackets trailing 4-1 in the 2nd period, they managed to rally and beat Ken Hitchcock’s crew. They are getting an unbelievable start to the season from former pariah Dustin Penner who had 5 points in the win they will be a tough test for the Flames on Saturday.

Knock on wood the Flames continue to be a healthy group, for the exception of David Moss who is getting back from an injury that is a claim very few teams can make these days.

Talked to Jim Playfair last night about his teams start to the season, and it sounds like the AHL team is mimicking the big club right now. The Heat is 2nd in the AHL in goals for and the coach is more concerned about the team’s defensive play at this point.

Kris Chucko is off to a strong start with 4 goals and 5 assists in 8 games, but it is the fact that he is leading the team in PIM’s that intrigues me. Playfair says he isn’t worried about Kris’s offensive numbers, but they continue to work on his “details” to get him to the next level.

Just another small note Playfair raved about young Keith Aulie and his start to his pro career.

Much like last year Jarome Iginla and his line mate were out before practice started working on one timers, granted it is a little different with Craig Conroy out there instead of Mike Cammalleri but you get the point.

Traditionally this has been a homer series with the Flames winning most games on Dome ice and the Jackets winning at Nationwide, just a trend though.

In a non Flames related thought how long is Alexander Frolov going to remain in LA, the Kings forward was scratched again last night for his indifferent play. I can only imagine that he will be on the first train out of town as soon as someone offers up a 3rd round draft pick, or what ever Dean Lombardi the GM of the Kings wants.

For the record David moss continues to skate prior to practices on his own, no timetable for his return to the main group.

Mike Commodore is on the 4 game trip for the Jackets, but won’t play against the Flames tonight.

Remember last game when I wrote that I didn’t think the Flames had a great practice, well as it turns out it really didn’t matter did it?

Lines – did run them during the practice so they are projected

Glencross Conroy Iginla
Dawes Langkow Bourque
Sjostrom Jokinen Nystrom
Prust Boyd McGratten

Regehr Phaneuf
Giordano Johnson
Bouwmeester Sarich

Kiprusoff

David Moss skated before the main group again today likely meaning that he won’t be available for the game against Columbus tomorrow but could be a possibility for Saturday’s game against the Oilers, or a week Wednesday when the Av’s come to town.

No major line changes at practice today, although Aaron Johnson did pair up with Mark Giordano and if that were to hold up until tomorrow could indicate that he may make his Flames debut in place of Adam Pardy. Have to wait and see what line combos and d-pairings we see at the morning skate on Tuesday.

Practices continue to be heavy on repetition and on basic system play, coaches living up to the promise to take advantage of the practice time to work on the clubs deficiencies.

As one of the first to jump all over the hiring of unheralded Joe Sacco as the new bench boss of the Avalanche, let me one of the first to praise his work early on in this season. Colorado is on top of the Northwest division with just 1 loss in regulation so far, and while Sacco hasn’t reinvented the wheel with the Av’s they continually play a patient game and seem extremely confident to play comeback hockey on the road.

The other end of the spectrum has to be the Minnesota Wild who hired the much hyped Todd Richards in the off season, and while it is early the Wild are horrible. Injuries have played a large role in that, but if you are going to allow Derek Boogaard to pretend to play defense you are in a lot of trouble. Last night the Wild acquired former Flame Chuck Kobasew from the Bruins, he can’t hurt but I doubt Chuck will make much of a difference until Havlet, Sykora, and Bouchard come back.

Just a couple of looking back kind of observations of the Flame Canucks game on Friday:

I know the Flames gave up late goals and the score was a little more flattering to Vancouver I thought the Flames were guilty of letting off the gas.

Despite not registering a point the captain was very very good, and did Iginla want Burrows in the worst way early in that first period.

I have seen the Canucks twice this year and Mason Raymond has stood out in both game for me, doesn’t have anything to show for it but he has been one of the few Vancouver players to show up.

I was surprised by the number of Vancouver players that seemingly pulled the shoot and didn’t want to compete as the second period wore on, I am sure that wasn’t something that the coaching staff was happy about and likely addressed prior to the game the next night versus Minnesota.

A win is a win, but for the Flames there is still work to be done, but better to be 5-2-1 with work to be done then say 2-5-1.

The Flames begin a home stand with just 5 games and plenty of practice time mixed in almost the next 3 weeks.

With the Flames now carrying 8 d-men and with acquisition of Jay Bouwmeester in the off season let the trade rumors begin.

The line changes that the Flames have to looked to have made heading into this game have more to do with shoring up the defense then getting Iginla or Jokinen going, the Flames are 3rd in the NHL in offense not so much on the other side of the puck.

A lot of talk that McGratten will go looking for Hordichuk tonight to get the ball rolling in this game, number 10 still looking for his first fight as a Flame.

Funny stat of the day the Flames have played 21 periods of regulation hockey and have out shot an opponent in 1 period (2nd frame against Montreal).

Lines

Glencross Conroy Iginla
Dawes Langkow Bourque
Sjostrom Jokinen Nystrom
Prust Boyd McGratten

Regehr Phaneuf
Sarich Bouwmeester
Giordano Pardy
Johnson Kronwall

Kiprusoff
McElhinney

Flames not having a great morning skate, passes off, and a lot of starting and stopping we will see if that relates to the game at all.

What a meltdown in Chi town last night, I wish I were more surprised that I actually am, but even in the first period when the Hawks got a goal to cut the lead to 4 goals there was a sense that the Flames were not in control.

I have no intention of piling on today, if you are looking for a rip job look elsewhere; there are far more eloquent people then myself who will rightfully carve this team up for their display in Chi town.

Nothing surprises me anymore, you cover enough hockey, at as many levels as I have, and you think you have seen it all. In the late 90’s I covered the Estevan Bruins in the SJHL and once witnessed an 8-2 second period lead turn into an 11 -9 loss to Beardy’s, so although I am surprised on occasion very rarely does anything really shock me to the core.

Anyway I am straying from what I was going to blog about which is the most important question for the Calgary Flames, NOW WHAT?

Having talked to Brent Sutter and his staff they have been constantly reminding the media that this team still has a long way to go to learn, play, and be successful with in the structure they are demanding from this team.

Recently Brent has made overtures that this team, while full of good cooperative players, aren’t grasping his concepts as quickly as he would like, last night the Blackhawks but an exclamation point on that thought.

The buy in has been evident in a few areas and the lack thereof is glaring in others, for example shot blocking. The Calgary Flames are blocking shots at a rate that I have never witnessed and it seems as if all the players have bought in. Shot blocking is one component of bringing the shots against down and in turn the goals against down as well. Shots are being blocked but that has not translated into either the shots or goals being reduced at this point.

Another area that I think the Flames have been much better to start the season has been special teams, they have the top power play in the league and a top 10 penalty kill, albeit very early in the season. Yet they lose the game last night with out scoring or surrendering a power play goal, they had only one man advantage.

The other are that has got to be troubling the new coach, much like it troubled the previous coach, and the one before him , and the one before him the lack of buy in by the core of this team. I know that the coach and GM both believe in this core, while many of us on the out side are beginning to question whether or not they are the biggest stumbling block for this team (in fairness some of you have been saying this for a couple of seasons).

A lot was made, in his brief time here, about Todd Bertuzzi’s abysmal plus minus record, check out Robyn Regehr’s. This is the player that spoke very candidly about Keenan’s lack of X and O skills and opined that this team needed a better tactical coach, well now he has one and he is struggling.

As the resident Kiprusoff apologist I was buoyed by Miikka’s start, up until last night anyway. Yes the goalie has been good, but this team has surrendered 3 or more goals in every game, that comes back to haunt you in an 82 game schedule when you spend the rest of the season trying to get the numbers back to a place where you can get credit from fans and media.

Funny how I started off saying I was going to write a ripping blog, back to the question of NOW WHAT?

It has to start tonight in Columbus, at nationwide arena where by the way the Flames have 3 wins all time. If the Flames come out listless and let the Jackets run around like the Hawks and Stars have the last 2 games then last nights game will go down as a meaningless embarrassment.

Come out tonight with some fire and passion improve on your team defense, show some moxie, show some push back when the Jackets surge, MY GOD you don’t even have to win just show that you learned some sort of lesson hear.

THE PART YOU DON’T WANT TO HEAR

This team will be fine, why because the head coach knows where he is going, how to get there and most importantly isn’t going to make knee jerk decisions to please the critics.

I am the biggest advocate of fans voicing their praise and frustration in a reasonable manner about any subject involving their “team”. I know that many have reached out to me in the past 12 plus hours to voice your displeasure, you should you pay the freight. I am all for educated media critiquing of the play of any team (what I mean by educated is that I am tired of guys in Toronto reading a box score then getting a national platform to spout off).

Yet at the end of the day I see a scenario which this team continues its roller coaster ride for a month (gawd no more triple loops of doom please!) maybe more.

I am not telling you to be patient, you make up your own mind, I have made up mine, but patient is the key word here. While blowing 5 goal leads aren’t easily digested the guy at the helm of this team isn’t surprised or panicked, no right now Brent Sutter is patient.

For the record Aaron Johnson will wear number 44 for the Calgary Flames.

Now on to the big story of the day Pat Quinn and his post game comments, just a couple of thoughts:

In my mind, big surprise, Iginla was not trying to hurt Souray, that doesn’t excuse the play and as a result Iginla was penalized.

I have thought long and hard about how I would react if the tables were turned, I hope that I would have the exact same opinion.

The league was, or should be trying to crack down on those collisions into the end boards in the wake of Kurtis Foster in San Jose two seasons ago.

Pat Quinn’s comments were intended, and did by the way, deflect criticism away from his team, it is not new and has been used many coaches many times over the year. Anyone remember Keenan accusing Willie Mitchell of using an illegal stick prior to a big game against the Canucks last spring.

This I know the Flames have played twice in Edmonton in 6 days and have come away with 4 points and all you here from the Oilers is how they should have or could have; I think that had more to do with the comments from the coach then anything else. “Hey look at what the left hand is doing, don’t pay any attention to the right!”

The Flames held a very optional practice today with just 6 players taking part including McElhinney, who I will guess is starting against Dallas.