4-2 Now without thier captain, but the telling stat is 4 Home Wins, 2 Road Losses. Does that mean that we can safely say that loosing Iginla didn't change anything??? One thing that can definately be said is this is still a vastly differnt team at home than it is on the road, Iggy or no Iggy.
The Ducks are still near the top of the Western Conference, but key injuries have brought them closer to the rest of the pack as of late. In their last 5 they have only been 1-2-2 and only 2-6-2 in their last 10. When a team is mising the players the Ducks are, you need to take advantage, and the Flames did but special teams again made the game a lot closer than it needed to be. The Flames did score their first goal on a power-play, but failed to cement the game later on chances they were given with the man-advantage, especially on the 5-3 opportunity they had in the second that could have give them a 4-0 lead at that point.
Instead, it was the Ducks PP that took advantage later in the period by capitalizing on their own 5-3 and in the third, although it wasn't recorded as a power-play goal, their second may as well have been as Tanguay had just stepped out of the box when the puck went in. Speaking of that Tanguay penalty, that was almost a turning point, as Tanguay did everything a player is supposed to do in the "new" NHL. He kept his hands off Neidermeyer, attempted a stick-check, and then pulled his stick away as Neidermeyer got by him. Neidermeyer inadvertantly tripped when he got his feet tangled up and it would have led to a Flames two on nothing. Instead, it was a penalty on the Flames that lead to the Ducks second goal.
In the end, the Flames won the game with their five-on-five play and some key saves by Kipper. The game was quite chippy at times, and there is a definate dislike for each other that's evident when these teams play. Even with Iginla out, there are a lot of players on both sides that clearly don't like each other. Godard and Parros did drop the gloves, but it didn't amount to much as Parros slipped and the linesmen broke it up.
The Oilers called up Stortini today to give them some muscle. Godard and Stortini have fought twice this season: once in pre-season and then once in the minors, so it's safe bet that they'll tangle again tommorrow. It's the last game before the All-Star break for the Flames and then most of the team will get a few days off to rest. Should be a great BOA tommorrow night as the late game on CBC.
Have a great day.
Calgary Flames Blogger • 
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