Recap: Calgary Flames (4) @ Colorado Avalanche (1): Iggy’s Last Game in Calgary?

The Calgary Flames welcomed the Colorado Avalanche to the Dome tonight which meant facing former Flames Jarome Iginla, Rene Bourque, Joe Colborne and Blake Comeau and let me tell you, it was a spirited affair for sure (I’ll explain later). There was a lot of talk of course about the return of Jarome Iginla and whether or not this would be his last game in Calgary. In fact, during the 1st intermission, Roger Millions, Curtis Glencross and Eric Francis talked about that and also whether they thought he may even return to play for the Flames.

1st Period

Kris Versteeg opened the scoring at the 15:25 mark of the 1st period as the Flames were on the power-play. A power-play that had scored 18 goals in the last 14 games and was once 29th in the league and is now in the top 10. A power-play that would score 3 goals tonight. Assists went to Sean Monahan and Alex Chiasson.

2nd Period

The Flames would get into penalty trouble early in the 2nd period with Sam Bennett taking a questionable cross-checking penalty almost two minutes in. But the penalty kill has been solid as of late, killing 26 of 28 in the last 8 games, and they would kill Bennett’s along with 2 more tonight. Midway through the period, Flames fans’ hearts skipped a beat as former Flame Blake Comeau blatantly gave Johnny Gaudreau a vicious slash to the face. Johnny would be alright. Mikael Backlund would then strike before the end of the 2nd period on the power-play to make it a 2-0 game, assisted by Mark Giordano and Matthew Tkachuk. The goal extended Backlund’s point-scoring streak to 5 games and Tkachuk’s point-scoring streak to 7 games.

3rd Period

Then, around the eight-minute mark of the 3rd period, Jarome Iginla gave Mark Giordano a little tap on the back of the leg. which Gio I am sure followed up with a friendly comment. Taking exception to something, an infuriated Iggy went after Gio, but unfortunately they came together with a ref between them and it fizzled out pretty quick before Gio got his head smashed in. Alex Chiasson would then make it a 3-0 game at 13:25 of the period with assists from T.J. Brodie and Sean Monahan. Then just forty-four seconds later, Johnny Gaudreau would add some insurance on the power-play, scoring his 10th of the season from Gio and Brodie. Just seconds later, the Flames hit two cross-bars. The Avs would eventually break Elliott’s shutout with just 1:25 left in the game, but the Flames would ultimately get the win, making it five wins in a row for Elliott.

The win is the Flames’ 11th in their last 15 games and 4th in their last 5 games.

Flame of the Game

Hard to choose a Flame of the Game because the team as a whole is looking very good on the power-play, penalty kill and even strength. They are also getting good goaltending from both tendies. I am going to have to give it to Captain Gio though tonight I think. He had 2 shots on net, 2 assists and even attempted to take on Iggy in a scrap. Luckily the stripes got in the middle of it or we may have been down a man for a couple games after.

by BizzleJ