Game 64 Recap – Flames burn Yotes

In a game that Flames fans were rightly concerned about, the boys in the Flaming C put in a much better effort against a red hot Coyotes squad. The lack of a win tonight would have been sounding the first few notes of the sad trombone. It was not to be as the victory tonight drew the Flames back up the standings and two points out of the final spot.

The Flames dominated the first period and were rewarded for it with as sweet a passing play as you will see. Jarome Iginla passed the puck to Alex Tanguay who spun and put the puck right on the tape Mike Cammalleri. Alex Tanguay is one of the best passing LW in the NHL today and he is certainly one player you have to be all smiles about this season.

Less than 2 minutes later the newly returned Curtis Glencross showed Flames fans what they have been missing by somehow putting in one of those goals that you wonder how it got in. Olli Jokinen put in another goal with a little hustle and by exploiting a Yotes turnover. Before the Yotes knew what was happening they were down 3-0 going into the 2nd period.

They did not sit still though and the ice dramatically tilted in their favor for the first half of the second period. Raffi Torres potted a power play goal at the 1:27 mark and a couple minutes later Michal Rozsival brought the Desert Dogs to within one. The Flames settled down for the second half of the second period and they came out solidly for the third.

The Yotes only managed 9 shots in the third and Kipper stood tall. Antoine Vermette took a penalty late in the third which snuffed any late game push from Coyotes. Matt Stajan fed Jarome Iginla with a nice pass for Jarome to pot a empty net goal.

A solid win for the Flames as they keep their playoff drive alive, if they can recover the position they held just a little over a week ago remains to be seen but they need more efforts like this one to do so.

by M Smith