thecalgaryflames.com

Iginla with goals in 6 straight, Stajan with points in 5 straight, Baertschi with goals in 3 straight, and 1 huge win against Phoenix.

The Flames stay in the hunt and are now just 1 point out of 7th with their fifth win in a row. It’s going to be really easy to look past the Oilers tomorrow night.

Mark Giorodano was a great selection for the first star of this game. Charlie Simmer continues to be awesome… (Rob Kerr not so much).

A lot happened in this game. Iginla scored his 30th, 11th year in a row he’s done that. Wow. Glencross was kicked out of the game for a hit from behind, ending his chance to tie the Flames record for goals in eight consecutive games.  Sven Baertschi scored again, as did Matt Stajan – somehow – which lead to this rare Brent Sutter hug. The Flames managed two shots in the third period, and still won.

I’ve said before that the playoff race couldn’t get much closer, well… it has. With the 3-point game last night there are now five teams within one point of each other. Five teams and two playoff spots up for grabs.

I wrote last time that “at least no one got hurt.” Well, T.J.Brodie apparently did get hurt because Babchuk was in for him for this game. Babs didn’t look great.

On the other side of the ice, Matt Hackett, the Wild’s third-string goalie played because of Minny’s injury woes. He played really well and he had no chance on the goals, especially the Iginla goal – I think he was shrugging his shoulders before Iggy even shot the puck.

Did the second period even happen?

In the third Sven Baertschi scored his first NHL goal, but that excitement was short-lived as Erik Christianson scored two goals in 2:20 to erase a two-goal third period lead.

Following that we saw the worst pass/shot ever from Iginla, but it went right to Glencross and that regained the Flames the lead. But if Kipper doesn’t make that huge save right before that goal this game is over. Moss’s pass to Jokinen on the two-on-one was much better. Lord knows that Mosser has had enough practice in the last couple games.

Big win for the Flames. Although they sure did what they could to lose this one in the third period. I believe that they are now tied for eighth.

The Flames once again rode their top line (Tanguay 1 goal, 3 assists; Iginla 1 goal, 2 assists) and their goaltender (Kiprusoff 42 saves), and on this night it was enough to win the Battle of Atlanta.

Sven Baertchi was noticable, and he didn’t screw up too bad – meaning he took one sketchy penalty. So it was a good game all around, and surprisingly no one got hurt!

That was a pretty fun game to be at, although it seemed like it would once again follow the pattern of the last few weeks. Flames score first, play a crappy period, then fight back to tie it in the third, only to lose in overtime or a shootout. On this night, the Flames scored first, two actually, and had a 2-1 lead going into the second period.

Iggy’s first goal of the game was a beaut. I don’t think anyone thought he kept the puck with him as he made the defenseman look foolish. Unfortunately since the cameras are on the same side as he was, you can’t see it on the highlights.

Then Kiprusoff gave up a real softy to tie the game at 2. It looked like Calgary was going to lose the momentum after that. But goals by Girodano and Iginla put the Flames up by 2, and then – to even out the goalie gaffes - Price made a nice pass right to Glencross for the eventual game winner.

“I just kind of got it and shot it,” Glencross said. “I didn’t want to waste any time. It was a pass where he put it right on my tape so I was lucky enough to be able to shoot it right away.”

Big win, over the last place (in the East) Montreal Canadiens. But only one point was gained in the standings, because everyone else won as well. Five teams, three points, two spots. Fifteen games to go.

The Flames lost to _________ (insert any team) on ________ (insert any night) to keep them _____ (insert number of points) out of a playoff spot. Here is how the game went.

The Flames scored first (and sometimes second and third) in the first period. However they didn’t even show up in the second period to let _Dallas_ back in the game.  They battled back to tie it in the third, but lost a heart-breaker in the final minute or overtime or the shootout.

The kicker with the loser point is that it is like playing .500 hockey, which we all know isn’t good enough. But for some reason people think that getting a point is okay. You can’t play .500 hockey at this time of year and expect to make the playoffs, or even maintain your position.

Here are the last 10 games records for the five teams fighting for the final two playoff spots. Dallas is 7-1-2, all signs point to making it. San Jose has really stunk it up lately at 2-7-1, and they are likely going to be passed by L.A. – if the Kings can play better hockey than .500 at 4-4-2. Colorado is 6-4-0, which is only 2 games above .500, but enough to pass Calgary’s 3-3-4 record.

I think Mosser said it best…

“That hurts.”

The Flames came from behind in the third period to tie the game, and gave themselves a chance to get at least a point in this back-to-back road game. But with 46 seconds left Ryan Getzlaf scored to completely ruin the Flames’ night. And because Dallas won in Edmonton the Flames are 4 points behind them – making Sundays game even more critical than it already was.

The Flames were up by three after the first, even though they gave up eight minutes of power play time in the period. But in typical Flames fashion, they stunk up the second period letting the Coyotes get back in the game with two quick goals. And then to the surprise of us all — in non-Flames fashion they came out and actually played a good third period. Good win.

Another blown lead. And the Flames get 2 out of a possible 8 points on their 4-game home stand at a critical part of the year.

Now I actually agree with Sutter that this is a tough stretch, and they’ll have to work through it. No one thought that they would go 23-0 in the final 23 games. The only thing I’d be upset with is that Calgary vowed to shoot more in this game – they had 3 shots in the second period. Feaster said that he – now – has confidence in this group to make the playoffs, and with the loss last night their playoff odds drop to 25% from 50% when they were actually in a playoff position (for 3 days).

I think that Al did something at the ceremony to ensure his team won. He’s probably mad because we didn’t retire his number. I’m mad for him.

Another blown lead, another shootout loss. This is not the time of year to forget how to defend a lead boys.

This game had a little bit of everything. The Flames finally scored a shorthanded goal, Tanguay scored on a penalty shot, there was a comeback, five on three goal, overtime and the shootout. Bryzgalov was awful, even though Calgary was outshot 45-21 they nearly walked away with this game.

With only a single point the Flames drop to eleventh in the West, one point behind Dallas, Los Angeles and Colorado.