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Calgary Flames

Game 23 Recap: Thar She Blows

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Ten Thoughts

-Hows about that pass from T.J. Brodie, huh? Slick.

Mark Giordano might be out for a while…that injury looked ugly. Just the way he went down to the ice-horrible.

-Big props to Chris Butler for playing a great game and for coming back from that puck in the face. The bandage, however, was absurd.

-Still seeing the 4th line out there after icings. I guess there is an argument to be made that after an opposition icing is the best time to put out the 4th line, but I find it extremely frustrating.

-Career game from Derek Smith. 23 minutes of ice time, led the team in Corsi and got his first NHL goal.

-Speaking of good games, Jarome Iginla had his second strong game in a row. +5 in ES scoring chances. Too early to say if he’s got it together, but the past two games suggest that.

-Miikka Kiprusoff with yet another excellent effort out there, and this time he got rewarded. At least 4 big saves and great resistance to that 35 second flurry at the end.

-I thought the special teams, with the exception of the Flames‘ second power play, had a really good game. Excellent work killing off the Blake Comeau penalty with 5 minutes left.

-Props to Jay Bouwmeester, who once again played more then 28 minutes in a game. After Gio went down, JBo was going to be leaned upon and he answered that call.

-In my opinion, by far the best game the Flames have played the entire season. That's the way you shut down another team when you're up by a goal-not that stupid shell shit Sutter seems to love. They didn't let up the whole game and that resulted in a complete neutering of Nashville's neutral zone transitions. A great team win.

Three Stars

1. Derek Smith-First NHL goal, tons of minutes, excellent possession time.
2. Miikka Kiprusoff-Shutout and some big saves.
3. Olli Jokinen-Led forwards in TOI, +4 in ES scoring chances.

Lastly…

That's the team the Flames should be on a consistent basis. The Flames' next game is Thursday against Columbus.

by Richard Hammond