Wow, this is the Flames team I've wanted to see for years!
The teams come a long way, and now they are becoming (if they weren't already) a marked team. Teams are going to start recognizing them as one of the top teams in the west, and look forward to try and beat them. Either way this is a very good thing for all the young players on the roster.
I really hope the Flames can make the jump to elite team status, it definatly looks right now like they're capable of beating any team in the league.
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"I've got to go play some hockey. I'm a hockey player. I'm okay. No big deal."- Brendan Witt (after getting hit by a car)
Interrupting the Calgary Flames' momentum has been a tough task lately, but stopping them at home has been nearly impossible.
The Flames, owners of the second-best home record in the Western Conference, seek their eighth victory in a row at Pengrowth Saddledome on Saturday night when they meet the Phoenix Coyotes.
Calgary (27-12-4) has opened a nine-point advantage on second-place Vancouver in the Northwest Division with 11 wins in 13 games (11-1-1) since Dec. 16, collecting 23 points. Only Boston - the East's top team - and Central Division-leading Detroit have more in that span with 24 apiece.
The two defeats over this stretch have come against Chicago, which won 3-2 in overtime at home on Dec. 19 and 5-2 on the road Jan. 4 to hand the Flames their only regulation loss in the last 15 games.
Since that home loss to the Blackhawks, Calgary has reeled off seven straight wins at Pengrowth Saddledome. It hasn't won eight in a row there since Jan. 4-Feb. 3, 2007.
The Flames have outscored opponents 31-16 during the run at home, as Miikka Kiprusoff has compiled a 2.29 goals-against average. He's gone 16-4-3 in starting each of Calgary's 23 games at Pengrowth Saddledome.
Kiprusoff made 33 saves to secure his league-best 27th victory on Thursday night, 3-2 at West-leading San Jose. Dion Phaneuf ended a 25-game goal-scoring drought by redirecting a shot with 3:57 to play, handing the Sharks - the NHL's best home team - their first regulation loss in San Jose in 32 games since Feb. 14. Phaneuf leads all Calgary defensemen with 28 points.
Center Daymond Langkow, third on the team with 37 points, has seven goals and seven assists in his last nine games. He notched his 16th goal of the season and assisted on Phaneuf's score Thursday to send the Flames to their fourth straight victory.
"We want to keep climbing, moving up," said captain Jarome Iginla, leading Calgary with 18 goals and 48 points. "We want to get to the next tier." more.....
With a nine-point lead in the Northwest Division, the Calgary Flames might not need another frantic push to reach the playoffs for a fifth straight time.
Continuing their strong play at home would certainly help.
But to win for the ninth time in 10 games at the Pengrowth Saddledome, the Flames (28-14-4) on Wednesday night will have to slow down the Buffalo Sabres (25-18-5), who scored 10 goals in their previous game and are 4-1-0 in their last five.
The past two seasons, Calgary didn't clinch a postseason berth until its 81st game. Having won 12 of thier past 16 games, though, has the Flames in better shape heading into season's final months.
They did hit a small bump before the break, losing two straight before rebounding with a 5-4 shootout win Jan. 21 over visiting Columbus. Calgary got a boost with the return of Todd Bertuzzi, who scored the only goal in the tiebreaker after missing five games with a groin injury.
"He won the game for us. I'd call that an impact," teammate Michael Cammalleri said. "He played really well. He was skating well. He obviously fills a big role in our lineup and it's very nice to have him back."
Cammalleri also scored twice, giving him eight goals in the last six games and a team-leading 22. He has also recorded 10 points during a six-game streak. Jarome Iginla, Calgary's lone All-Star representative, has six points during a four-game streak, and a team-leading 53....more
Michael Cammalleri has been feeling right at home in Calgary's Pengrowth Saddledome lately.
Cammalleri looks to continue his scoring surge and help the Northwest Division-leading Flames win for the 10th time in 11 games at the Saddledome when they face the Nashville Predators on Friday.
Calgary (29-14-4) has an 11-point lead atop the Northwest, thanks in large part to an 18-5-3 home record. The Flames, third in the NHL with 96 goals at home, have scored at least five goals six times during their 9-1-0 stretch at the Saddledome.Cammalleri has been a big part of the Flames' recent home success, with 12 goals in his last seven gamesin Calgary. He recorded a hat trick in Wednesday's 5-2 victory over Buffalo, the Flames' 11th in 14 contests.
The Calgary forward has scored eight times during a four-game goal streak, and has 11 goals and two assists during a seven-game point streak. Seventeen of his team-leading 25 goals have come at home, and the Flames are 13-3-1 overall when he scores.
"Obviously, it's going in for me right now and it feels pretty good when the puck's going in like that," said Cammalleri, who was acquired from Los Angeles last summer and can become an unrestricted free agent after the season. "It definitely adds to the confidence level, and the stick feels pretty comfortable in your hands."
Cammalleri has a goal and two assists in Calgary's three games against the Predators this season - all wins....more
The Calgary Flames have jumped out to a big lead in the Northwest Division, thanks in very large part to Miikka Kiprusoff.
After getting a rare day off in Calgary's last matchup with Colorado, the workhorse goaltender will likely try and add to his NHL-leading win total Monday night when the Flames meets the Avalanche for the final time this season.
On Dec. 15, Calgary (30-14-4) trailed first-place Vancouver by two points in the Northwest Division, but it's gone 14-3-1 since to take an 11-point lead. The 29 points the Flames have collected during that stretch are the most in the Western Conference.
Kiprusoff has led Calgary during the run, as he's been in net for 17 of the Flames' last 18 games, going 14-2-1 with a 2.56 goals-against average after winning just 16 of his first 28 starts.
He picked up his league-best 30th victory Friday night, 3-1 over visiting Nashville, making 28 saves to send the Flames to their third straight win.
"Guys around here that have been playing with (Kiprusoff) a few years have come to know him that way and know he can make the big save," said center Matthew Lombardi, who scored his fifth goal Friday.
Kiprusoff has sat out only three contests this season - most recently Jan. 18, a 6-2 Calgary loss to Colorado (23-26-1). Given his recent track record against the Avalanche, Kiprusoff seems very likely to be in net Monday.
He's 7-1-1 with a 1.57 GAA and two shutouts in his last nine matchups versus the Avalanche, and has allowed five goals in starting the first four meetings of this season's series.
The Avalanche are 10-3-1 in their last 14 home games versus the Flames, but playing in Denver hasn't been beneficial for them lately. They fell to 1-5-0 on their season-high eight-game homestand with Saturday's 4-3 loss to Anaheim.
Colorado has lost seven of eight overall and sits last in the Northwest and near the bottom of the conference.....more
The resurgence of goaltender Marty Turco has the Dallas Stars riding their longest win streak of the season.
Dallas and Turco seek their fifth straight victory Tuesday night as they host the Calgary Flames - a team against which the Stars' goaltender has thrived in the past.
The Stars (23-18-7) have won four in a row for the first time since a seven-game run from Jan. 29-Feb. 11, 2008. Turco has been in net for each victory during the current streak, allowing six total goals while making 109 saves and lowering his goals-against average to 2.98 - albeit still much higher than his 2.24 career mark.
"Turcs comes up with save after save. That's what you need if you're going to win," said left wing James Neal, who had two goals and an assist to back Turco in Saturday's 7-3 win at Columbus. "He's putting some real solid games together. We're responding and playing good hockey. It's a good feeling around here. It's fun and guys are playing well."
Dallas' top line of Mike Ribeiro, Jere Lehtinen and Steve Ott is certainly playing well, as all three players are riding four-game point streaks. Ott has a goal in three straight games, while Lehtinen has three goals and five assists in his last eight contests. Ribeiro has a team-best 43 points, including nine in the last six games.
Turco is 10-4-1 with a 1.73 GAA in his last 15 starts against the Flames (30-15-4), helping Dallas take five of the last seven meetings between the teams. He stopped 36 of 37 shots to earn a 3-1 road win the last time these teams faced each other, Dec. 2 in Calgary.
However, the Flames are playing much-improved hockey these days. Despite a 4-3 loss Monday at Colorado that ended its three-game win streak, Calgary is 14-4-1 in its last 19, thanks in large part to a surging offense.....more
CALGARY, Alberta (AP) -The Calgary Flames ended a four-game losing streak by beating up on a team mired in a deep slump of its own. Matthew Lombardi and Dustin Boyd scored short-handed goals in a three-goal second period as the Flames overcame a 2-1 deficit and beat the struggling Montreal Canadiens 6-2 Monday night.
With the win, Flames coach Mike Keenan tied Pat Quinn for fourth all-time in NHL coaching victories with 657.
With the Flames trailing 2-1 in the second period, Lombardi tied the game, pouncing on Sergei Kostitsyn's miscue and racing in alone on Jan Halak, beating the goaltender with a backhander.
Thirty-two seconds later, Dion Phaneuf's shot deflected in off a Canadien to give Calgary its first lead of the night.
At 18:43 it was Andrei Markov's turn to mishandle the puck on a Canadiens power play. Eric Nystrom passed ahead to Boyd, who went in all alone to score his first goal in 16 games for a 4-2 lead.
"We're really happy with the way we played. That's the kind of game we were looking for: a lot of energy and playing a full 60 minutes," said Lombardi, who also added two assists.
Meanwhile, the Canadiens held a players-only meeting that lasted over 30 minutes after their sixth road loss in a row and eighth defeat in their last 10 games.
"A lot of good things were said. Hopefully it's a step in the right direction," Montreal all-star defenseman Mike Komisarek said.
The Canadiens were making their first stop on a season-high six-game road trip. They play in Edmonton on Wednesday night.
"The first thing is to really try and forget the last two weeks," said Montreal captain Saku Koivu. "We can't feel sorry for ourselves and we know the situation that we're in. We're the only ones that are going to dig ourselves out of that hole."
When asked if the meeting was a passionate one, Koivu responded, "We're trying to bring the passion back onto the ice, that's what we're trying to do." Michael Cammalleri, Rene Bourque and David Moss also scored for Calgary. The victory gave the Flames a nine-point lead over Minnesota atop the Northwest Division.
Matt D'Agostini and Tomas Plekanec replied for Montreal.
"Right now we still have games, we still have time to come back and turn this thing around," Montreal coach Guy Carbonneau said. "Tonight was a good time to do that, between the players to air out whatever concern they have and try to pull back again together.
"Right now we're not playing with confidence. It seems that every time we make a mistake it's in our net. Making plays and making passes is really hard because of the confidence that we don't have."
Calgary put the game away in the third period with Bourque's score and Moss getting the night's lone power-play goal of the night.
Making his first start in nine games, Halak saw 41 shots in dropping to 11-10-1. Miikka Kiprusoff made 22 saves to improve to 31-15-3.
Calgary really poured it on in the second period, outshooting Montreal 20-4. Despite the disparity in shots, the biggest save of the period belonged to Kiprusoff. After going more than 14 minutes without a save, Kiprusoff stacked his pads to deny Andrei Kostitsyn of what looked like the tying goal......more
The Calgary Flames snapped their longest losing streak of the season and woke up a lagging offense in their previous game, but they have found difficulty winning or scoring in Anaheim over the past few seasons.
The Flames (31-18-4) look to avoid a ninth consecutive defeat at the Honda Center and a second loss in five days to the Ducks (27-24-5) when the teams square off on Wednesday.
Calgary has been held to 14 goals in losing eight straight in Anaheim, a skid dating back to April 4, 2004. The Flames haven't scored more than two goals in any of their past four trips to the Honda Center.
That's not a good sign for a Calgary team trying to further spark an offensive revival.
After scoring seven times during a four-game skid, the Flames broke through in Monday's 6-2 victory over visiting Montreal with five unanswered goals in the final 28:24. Matthew Lombardi's short-handed goal 11:36 into the second period tied the game and seemed to ignite the team. Dion Phaneuf scored 32 seconds later, and Dustin Boyd added another short-handed tally with 1:17 left in the period.
"We're really happy with the way we played. That's the kind of game we were looking for: a lot of energy and playing a full 60 minutes," said Lombardi, who also had two assists.
While Calgary came within one goal of matching a season high, the struggles for some players continued. Jarome Iginla, who has a team-leading 58 points, has not scored in four straight games and has just two goals in his last 16. While Curtis Glencross has no goals and one assist in his last 12 games, Daymond Langkow and Craig Conroy have gone 10 straight games without scoring.
However, Michael Cammalleri, who leads Calgary with 28 goals, has scored three times in the past four games....more
The Los Angeles Kings are winning in bunches these days. The same can't be said of the Calgary Flames.
The Kings carry a season high-tying four-game winning streak into Thursday night's home contest against the Flames, losers of five of their last six.
Los Angeles (24-21-7) had dropped four in a row (0-3-1) from Jan. 10-17, but has since regrouped to win seven of its last eight games. Tuesday night's 4-3 shootout victory on the road against the league-worst New York Islanders was the Kings' fourth in a row, matching their streak from Nov. 6-13....more
I hope we can pull out a win tonight look for Conroy and Cammy to tear it up!
Lets hope Iggy shows up...
Flames Game Day Talk 2008-09
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