The Calgary Flames scored 3 goals early in the first period, then held off a 2nd half comeback from the Canucks to hang on to a 5-3 win. Mikka Kiprusoff was very strong in net for the Flames, making 39 saves for the win. Roberto Luongo made 19 saves in the loss.
Vancouver clawed back to make it 4-2 after two, and Alex Burrows scored early in the 3rd to make it 4-3, but Calgary weathered the storm and Dion Phaneuf scored an empty-netter to put the game out of reach.
Our take: A tale of two halves as the Canucks came out flat and got dominated in the 1st half resulting in a quick three goal deficit. About midway through the 2nd, Vancouver finally turned on the burners and had Calgary pinned in their own zone for much of the rest of the game. After a weak 1st, the Sedin's and Burrows were absolutely dominant come the 3rd period, and had complete puck possession every time on the ice.
A gross start, but some positives to pull out of it as we looked like the much better team for the last half of the game, and hopefully can build off that in Denver Saturday afternoon. After a slow start which saw Henrik Sedin take 2 bad penalties, the Sedins looked unreal in the third period. Roberto Luongo seemed poised and confident after his rough start.
One reason for concern would be the 4th line. Darcy Hordichuk, Ryan Johnson and Rick Rypien were outplayed, outworked and outmuscled by Calgary's 4th line all night, and looked just plain awful to be honest. They will have to be better in order to stay intact and get a regular shift this season. With that said, there's still 81 games to go, so Vancouver fans shouldn't be sweating just yet.
No comments:
Post a Comment