Postgame: All Too Easy

There wasn’t a lot of difficulty in Calgary’s 9-1 win over the Colorado Avalanche on Monday night, and that’s just fine for the Flames, as they got back in the win column, and back into the top eight in the Western Conference.  It’s not like Calgary was channeling the Edmonton Oilers of the 1980’s.  But they were far and away better than an awful Avalanche team, and the cruised to a regulation win.  Happy Valentines Day!

Well, we can tell you what didn’t happen…a competitive hockey game.  The onslaught started early and never stopped, with Robyn Regehr opening the scoring just 18 seconds into the first period.  His wrist shot from the point deflected in front and eluded starting goaltender Peter Budaj, and it really was a harbinger of things to come.  The Flames would get a powerplay shortly thereafter, and a Tim Jackman goal would be waved off on what I thought was the correct call.  It seemed to wake up the Avalanche, as they got a couple shots towards the net, and then Anton ended the game.  Seriously.  Anton Babchuk’s powerplay goal at 5:57 was all she wrote in this one, and it lead to three more tallies in the first period.  Jarome Iginla scored his 24th at 11:14 and then red hot Curtis Glencross scored again at 12:41.  For Glencross, he has goals in five straight games, and he’d assist on an Olli Jokinen marker at 17:01.  Jokinen would finish the period tying a team record with four points, and the slaughter was just beginning.

Amazingly, Colorado would score the only goal of the second period, and it came on the powerplay.  Daniel Winnik put home his eighth at 11:09 to stop the bleeding, temporarily.

Um, then the third period came.  Alex Tanguay scored 40 seconds in, getting a goal after getting back in the lineup after missing three games with a neck strain.  His 14th was followed by another Glencross marker at 2:57 and then a second on the night for Iginla at 9:16.  With just 65 seconds remaining, Calgary finished their onslaught with a Matt Stajan marker, his fifth.  Yep.  9-1 Calgary.  The Avalanche showed zero push back, and let the Flames push them around in their own building.  And the Flames obliged.

…isn’t a fair heading tonight.  There isn’t one good reason why the Flames won this hockey game, there are numerous.  Everything was bouncing their way on this night, and that was on display especially in the first period.  They ran into atrocious goaltending, which was on display from start to finish.  They didn’t get any type of fight from their opposition as this game went along, which lent itself to things getting out of control.  And finally, the Flames were/are a better hockey team.  So there you go.

Well, I guess he tied a new Flames record for points in a period, so Olli Jokinen can get the nod.  I want him to keep playing well so I can keep posting the awesome photos of him that are floating around out there on the internet.  If I new how to get the animated ones on here, I’d obviously do that as well.  Honestly though, anyone would have been a good choice tonight.

John-Michael Liles was -6 on this night.  That’s all you need to know.  Calgary won this hockey game going away, and they made a bad Avalanche team look horrid.  However, it’s just two points.  Sure, it’s nice to roll like that, but the team needs to put this sucker behind them the same way they did their loss on Saturday.  They’ve got a huge game with Dallas on Wednesday night.

Notes: Olli Jokinen and Tim Jackman both left the game and did not return with lower body injuries.  Jokinen did postgame interviews, so it doesn’t seem too serious, but the Jackman injury is uncertain.  Jokinen was caught with a knee-on-knee hit from Colorado’s Phillippe Dupuis, and I’d hope the league takes a look at it.