Postgame: Touchdown!

It was a score the Baltimore Ravens would be proud of.  A 7-6 hockey win over the Carolina Hurricanes for the Calgary Flames on Tuesday is a little bit of a different story, but it did accomplish one thing: getting the team two points.  Calgary now has points in five of their last six games and wins in four of those as they inch back to with a game of the .500 mark.

A smothering start for the Flames had them on the board just over three minutes into the first period, as Jarome Iginla took an Olli Jokinen pass at the left side of the crease for his eighth of the season and an early 1-0 lead.  At the time of the goal, the Flames had outshot Carolina 10-0, but that total started to change through the period, as Calgary got a little too loose allowing four consecutive odd man rushes.  Luckily, the Canes were unable to cash in, keeping the Flames lead until late in the frame.  At 18:51, Lee Stempniak would poke home his seventh thanks to Blake Comeau’s pass from the left side of the crease.

42 seconds into the second period, Brendan Morrison would score his second of the season thanks to a backhand at the left side of the net, giving Calgary a 3-0 lead, which is when this game kinda got wacky.  On a penalty shot, Jiri Tlusty would get Carolina on the board at 5:39 followed by a Tim Brent shot from the slot at 13:16 getting the visitors back within one.  But less than a minute later, a fast break goal from Rene Bourque had the Flames leading 4-2 after two periods of play.

Morrison’s second of the night had Calgary back up by three at 1:22 of the final frame as it took a nice bounce off a stick on the way in.  Then the back and forth game started, with Tuomo Ruutu tipping a Jamie McBain shot at 6:41 for Carolina followed by a roof shot from Mikael Backlund on the powerplay at 10:57.  Eric Staal jammed home a giveaway behind the net at 13:42 before the game was finally sealed by Iginla into an empty net at 18:51.  Or was it?  Chad LaRose and Staal would score twice in the final minute, getting the Canes back within one, but alas they had less than five seconds to go and fell 7-6 to the Flames.

…why the Flames won?  Because Carolina is kinda bad.  The Flames took full advantage, like they were supposed to, of a fire drill Hurricanes team.  Cam Ward wasn’t very good and neither was his replacement Mike Murphy, and Calgary scored enough to win.  Yeah, sure, they eased way up on the throttle and allowed a bad hockey team to keep creeping close, but this was never really in doubt in my mind, regardless of the football score.

Hey, we’ll go Morrison, just because he lead the team with four points on the night.  It’s kind of, well, interesting to see a regular healthy scratch jump right up onto the top line in his first game back, but that’s exactly what Morrison did on his way to four points.  His line with Iginla and Jokinen combined for ten points, and so yeah, that’s why we’ll go with Mo.

Well, it’s a good thing hockey isn’t a sport that relies on judging, as I don’t think Calgary’s artistic merit would be very high on this night.  That said, they’re 4-1-1 in their last six games which is their best run of the season.  Colorado and Edmonton have next no success against the Flames, so it would be pretty disappointing to not see Calgary 6-1-1 in their last eight heading out onto a four game road trip.