A Case of the Mondays: Better in the Big Apple?

The Flames are right back at it today after a crushing overtime loss in a game where they twice held a two-goal lead, as they take on the New York Rangers this evening at Madison Square Garden (5PM MT, Sportsnet West). While the team did a lot of things right last night, they’ll need to pick up where they left off before the collapse set in midway through the third period. Sixty minutes means just that; not fifty, not fifty-five, and the Flames learnt that the hard way against the Wings. I don’t want to put a damper on some of the good things about last night’s game–it’s a small accomplishment any time you can outplay a team of Detroit’s calibre for two and a half periods–but a loss is a loss, and the Flames should have won that game. For the most part, they deserved to win it.

Gameday news and links after the jump.

Even some of the most notorious foul-mouthed commenters around these parts were no where near as upset about the sometimes questionable officiating in last night’s game as Jay Bouwmeester. The Flames defenceman will probably find his wallet a little lighter after he voiced his displeasure about the penalty called on him in the final minutes of the game to the Calgary Sun’s Randy Sportak (via Elliotte Friedman):

“It was a rebound and the guy’s going to the net, so I lift his stick and he f—ing falls down and [the referee] calls a f—ing penalty … It was terrible, in my opinion.”

The normally soft-spoken blueliner's comments set tongues wagging this afternoon. Pat MacLean of Black Dog Hates Skunks wrote that his reaction to the call was "the first time I have ever seen Bouwmeester show any emotion whatsoever." 

Thanks to some digging by the FN crew we’ve learned that Martin Biron will start in net for the Rangers tonight [Newsday.com]

A preview of tonight's opponent [FlamesNation] 

Thoughts on a double dose of suckage from Calgary's two most prominent professional sports teams yesterday [Dome Beers]

Kent discusses the Islanders' treatment of blogger and accredited writer Chris Botta, who recently had his access revoked by the team, and what it means for new media-NHL relations [Houses of the Hockey] 

A look at top 2011 draft prospect Ryan Nugent-Hopkins [Cult of Hockey]

Is the assurance that he won't be asked to waive his no-trade clause this season a contributing factor to Iginla's recent hot streak? [Yahoo! Sports]

A quick look at a few players who have been graced by Lady Luck in the form of high shooting percentages this season, and vice versa [TSN] 

Cory Sarich isn’t the only Cory scoring into his own net these days [Deadspin]

The best players in the NHL over the age of forty this season [HOTH]

Some lucky Edmontonian picked up the Coyotes’ Paul Bissonnette‘s phone on Friday. Is it at all ironic that he owns a BlackBerry? [Puck Daddy]

Happy Monday everyone, see you shortly in tonight's GameThread!

by Hayley Mutch