Game No. 16: Theme from Jaws

Last night was ugly, tonight could be a whole lot worse.

I swear I’ve been trying to dial back the negativity lately. But what was there to like about last night’s game? That we’re-really-hoping-Jarome-turns-it-around-soon train is primed to go screaming out of the station any day now, and he’s got the stats to back it up, especially on that dreadful Friday night in Phoenix.

A minus-4? He and his linemates got completely bossed, and Calgary gave up five to a team that hadn’t scored that many in a single game all year. Worse, they conceded a hattie to Vernon Fiddler. I don’t know how much worse it can get.

But tonight we may just find out. There’s no way to sugarcoat this: playing at San Jose, where the Sharks have 23 goals in seven games in spite of looking poor offensively, is perhaps not the cure-all Calgary needs right now. And add in that it’s the second half of an all-road back-to-back? It could get ugly, especially considering it’ll be Miikka Kiprusoff in net for this one as well.

There is good news though. San Jose sucks at defense. At least so far this year. When Antti Niemi is in net. And guess who goes tonight for the Sharks! If there’s any goalie in the league right now that can help the Flames’ top players snap out of this season-long slump, it’s the guy with a 3.90 GAA and the .872 save percentage.

Of course, what it says about the Flames’ current form that Todd McLellan would feel comfortable rolling him tonight, I leave to you to interpret.

And now a new feature for the game threads: Guess the Iginla Output.

Put me down for a secondary assist on the power play and a minus-2.