thecalgaryflames.com

And the downward spiral of suckiness continues.

The Flames just didn’t look like they belonged in the same league as L.A. — or Southern California for that matter. Outscored 13-3 in three games? Ouch! That means that a team struggling to get back into the race is 0-5-1 in its last six road games.

Iginla said it best: “This is definitely a big step in the wrong direction.”

Unless that direction is towards the first overall pick, and a rebuild. Sucking is the only requirement of that, and we’ve got that nailed!

Go Flames!

Unlike the game against the Ducks the night before, Calgary was never in this one. They scored on a 5 on 3, and in the final seconds of the first, but that was the only sign of life you saw from this team.

Kiprusoff was just awful. He’s let in 10 goals in the past 2 games. Actually there wasn’t anyone in this game I thought played well. Maybe the exception would be the fourth line, which is sad.

Can we stop doing this race for eighth every year yet? Even though you hear the Flames are only 2 points or 4 points out of a playoff spot, you’re only 1 point out of last. And this team looks much more like a last-place team than an eighth-place one. You’re not close to being in the playoffs, you’re close to getting the first pick overall next year.

Which I would take now, because I’m tired of this team.

Calgary actually played pretty well this game, and they also seemed to be getting the bounces. However it seemed like every shot was either blocked or missed, and the ones that got through Viktor Fasth was there. I guess this game just wasn’t meant to be.

Begin mentioned something interesting the first intermission. He said that if they were fast, if they were first to the puck, then they’d get more chances. And that is exactly what happened! However chances does not equal goals. Even though the score didn’t show it, at least the Flames looked like they belonged in the same league as the Ducks.

The return of Kiprusoff and facing another tired opponent using their backup goaltender? this game began with promise.

And surprisingly, Calgary took advantage of it! A tied game heading into the third, the Flames uncharacteristically scored three times (including an empty-net goal) to walk away with a 4-1 win. Iginla scored, Blake Comeau scored (who?), and Calgary moved above .500 for the first time this year! Can someone say race for eighth? Nope, not even close.

At least we’re ahead of Edmonton.

That was weird.

The Flames certainly did not bring their best effort to the game last night, yet somehow managed to walk away with two points against perennial President’s Trophy favorites the Vancouver Canucks. Danny Taylor, the Flames’ 4th-string goalie,  looked pretty shaky in net but got his first NHL win with 29 saves on 31 shots. Luckily, Vancouver backup Roberto Luongo looked even more shaky which afforded Calgary to once again get back to 500.

The story of the night was Brian McGrattan’s return to the Flames. After beating down a Canuck you’ve never heard of, he saluted the fans – and got a 10-minute misconduct for it! Apparently Jagr has got a trademark on the move and Brian was penalized for it.

Awesome.

Okay, that hurt.

Can anyone remember a time where so were as deflated, absolutely owned by another team? I think Feaster said it best:

“We tried to get [O'Reilly] but it just didn’t happen. Hopefully we can still come out of tonight with two points.”

The Flames jumped out to a three goal lead after the first twenty minutes. Which we were all nervous about, especially after Colorado scored twice in the second to get within one goal. But when Iginla scored to make it four to two, going into the last period you thought there was no way Calgary could blow this. They would get the win, they would move to within two points of a playoff spot, and the sting of not getting a proven two-way centre wouldn’t hurt so much. It wasn’t meant to be.

This was a real turning point for this organization. Now things will change.

1. Calgary admits to needing help. We all knew it, but this attempted move shows that the organization knows it’s missing something and requires some young talent to get better. 
2. The playoffs for this year are (likely) not going to happen. We have a trade the few assets we have, Iginla, Kiprusoff, Bouwmeester, for some future players.
3. The Flames will be very active over the next three weeks heading into the trade deadline. This roster is not good enough to make the post-season next year. Something needs to be done.
4. The schedule gets much more difficult from here on out. Not being a part of the top eight now means that this team cannot compete with the average team in this conference as it is right now.

Losing O’Reilly was a sign. A sign pointing to rebuilding as the only remaining option. It will be very interesting in this City over the next four weeks and in the summer. Mark my words.

The Flames were lucky to come away with a single point in this one. Joey MacDonald held them in this game, the Wild hit two posts and had a goal called back, and Calgary had an absolute horrid power play.

The Flames had a 5 minute power play at the end of the second period and couldn’t generate a shot. They also had a four minute power play in the third and couldn’t add to their one goal lead. Since the beginning of the second period you knew that it was just a matter of time until Minnesota evened things up. We were lucky to get this game to overtime and get the loser point.

With the point Calgary is now 3 points out of a playoff spot, they were two points out before the game began. Stupid three point games.

The Flames blew and then regained a third-period lead in this game. This was also right in-line with the idea that when Calgary loses, they really lose; but when they win – they just barely eke it out.

This ‘must-win’ as they say, happened in the last minute and a half of the third period. Iggy scored his second of the game to tie it up, and Glenncross (finally) scored a half-minute later to give Calgary the win in regulation. This game had four lead changes in it, I can’t remember the last time that happened.

What people will remember was the strangeness of Matt Stajan’s interference penalty he took while in the penalty box. And on the subsequent powerplay Jay Bouwmeester snuck one past Joey MacDonald. Ouch. The funny thing is if Stajan would have jumped into the guy and knocked him over there would have been no call, you just can’t touch the puck until both skates are on the ice.

Well I’m glad that Joey MacDonald was able to win that game for us. He’d played well in the previous few games and only had one win to show for his work.

I’m also happy for the guys I usually rip on — Matt Stajan and Jay Bouwmeester — who both played as well as I’ve ever seen. That was probably Matt’s best game ever as a Flame. Come to think of it, most of the team played pretty well. Except it would have been nice if Cammalleri and Giordano could have made their presence felt somehow.

And therein lies the problem. If the team plays well they barely squeak out a win. If they do not, they get hammered. The win got us one point closer to the last playoff spot, so if this team could win a few in a row we’d be right back in there. Is this team capable of that?

So after a season-low effort against Phoenix the Flames come out with… their second worst game of the year. If it wasn’t for Joey MacDonald, this game would have been way worse. Iginla had a pretty solid game too (8 shots, 1 assist) but other than those two, this team absolutely sucked.

TSN reports that in order to make the playoffs, the Flames have to go 22-11 for the rest of the season. Eleven games over 500? There is no way, this team is not good enough to go on a run like that. And according to SportsClubStats.com, the Flames have a 11% chance of making the playoffs this year.