Breaking: Forsberg, Leopold, Foote injured; Breaking: Zyuzin a healthy scratch; Breaking: StL to play Cgy

While not exactly shocking, news of the injuries to Forsberg, Foote, and Leopold are great for Calgary. Salei also managed to break his orbital bone fighting Ott for the hit on Leopold. Leopold in particular has been amazingly injury-prone:

22-Jan-08 Missed 2 games (illness).
18-Jan-08 Illness, day-to-day.
29-Dec-07 Missed 4 games (leg injury).
19-Dec-07 Leg injury, day-to-day.
13-Dec-07 Missed 21 games (wrist surgery).
26-Oct-07 Wrist injury, mid-December.
16-Oct-07 Missed 2 games (hip injury).
12-Oct-07 Hip injury, day-to-day.
22-May-07 Re-signed by the Colorado Avalanche to a two-year contract.
09-Apr-07 Missed the last 25 games of the regular season (wrist injury).
17-Feb-07 Wrist injury, sidelined indefinitely.
26-Jan-07 Missed 17 games (groin).

Does a Moreau brother work as Colorado's strength and conditioning coach? In other breaking news, Andrea Susan has been a healthy scratch in Chicago. With a blue-line like Chicago has, that's quite a statement.

Calgary has the opportunity to catapult itself to the top of the division tonight (again). Minnie has 2 games in hand and is only 1 point ahead. While Calgary has points in six of the last seven games, the obvious lack of scoring is a major concern. Huselius needs to turn off the suck as well, he's been an offensive void lately -- is he trying to get moved out of town?

The one brightspot has been Kiprusoff. He's clearly stolen a few games for us, and we're going to need to ride that pony til it runs out of gas, 'cause it's all we got right now. I hate reverting to a Vancouver style of play (minus the award-winning level of goonery and douchebaggery), but if it's working, let's keep it up.

Prediction: 3-1 Calgary win (Hale, Lombardi, Kiprusoff) [Yes, none are likely to ever score an NHL goal...]. Stempniak.

Nashville pre-game

So apparently after the game in Vancouver last night, Nashville is all worked up about being worked over...

...hope they're ready for a repeat.

So, I have to admit we probably didn't deserve that win Tuesday night, apologies to Bethany and Stephen (we missed the rest of this week, come again!). But I'll take it... at least we got it. It did rather confirm a couple of things I saw:

1) Kipper is back. And in good time.
2) The team as a whole is getting run-down and tattered. It's starting to be obvious they're not as young as they were, say, four years ago, let's pick a random number!

So tonight we're up against Nashville, and ST is in town! If you've been reading other Flames blogs, you'll know the crowd is going to start off at the fabled Flames Central tonight, there potentially to depart for other (cheaper) environs.

No prediction. All bets are off when we hang out. We seem to sap out the good-Flames karma, or maybe they know we love to sit around and bitch.

What A Stupid Name For A Team

The name "Blue Jackets" was chosen to celebrate "patriotism, pride and the rich Civil War history in the state of Ohio and city of Columbus."

- Wikipedia

In a way, it is somewhat fitting that a team named after Ohio's rich history is as boring as its namesake. The Jackets, headlined by Rick Nash Pascal Leclaire, will visit Calgary (they will likely still be impressed by the city). Columbus is still, technically, in the playoff race but I have a feeling they've somewhat accepted defeat with the trade of Foote.

The Flames are coming off a decisive game over Phoenix, as we all know. Conroy is out, Tangs may be back, and Moss was called up. Iggy needs one more goal to pass tiny little Theo Fleury on the all-time Flames goal-scoring list, and I think he can get it done tonight. He's been playing very well the last several games, and the man is hungry for sole possession of that title.

But man, what's with Cujo? The man still has it. It's been so long since I've actually been comfortable with Kiprusoff warming the bench, usually I'm cringing every time the puck is shot in the general direction of the net. Remember when we used to have crappy goaltenders like Brian Boucher, who is only not crappy once out of every 17 games? What about Philippe Sauve, who is amazingly crappy even in the AHL and Germany's leagues: 0.826% with Boston in the NHL, 0.855% with Iowa in the AHL, and .889% with Hamburg in the Germany-Has-An-Elite-League?

I'd also like to issue an apology. It seems none of our scooped deadline trades came to pass. I've personally fired Eklund and will not use him as a source for trade rumours for at least one month.

Amateur Night

There's several views from several angles, and I've had to perform the excruciating task of looking at several views of this on YouTube, but for your viewing pleasure this Saturday, I'm able to present the following:



Two questions:

After his Guitar Hero pwning of his Flames teammates earlier this season, and this latest performance, is there anything Nystrom can't do?

Why was I not told earlier? (I only found out from cracking open, of all things, the morning paper)

Um. So I wisely (in retrospect) opted to go out and do other things last night, thus missing the Flames going down by a goal in the first 35 seconds of the game. I don't think any of us were too surprised... the boxscore last night shows all the hallmarks of a typical Flames game this season.

Weak start, penalty parade, meh. It would be nice if we could start playing in the first period, just like the other team does.

I'm looking for them to bounce back against the Coyotes tonight. We know the Coyotes are a much better team than in prior years, so it'll be a nailbiter. Expect it to be close, maybe even go to a bonus round.

Open Ice Hits scoops the deadline!

So we at Open Ice Hits are confounded by the absolute silence on all things trade deadline related. Through some investigative sleuthing, here's what we've been able to uncover for our readers:

Iginla to Leafs for Steen: Details to follow, in the finest style of all the best media sources. Note that Colaiacovo wasn't included in this swap - he and Tlusty are to be packaged together for Phaneuf. Local Leafs sources claim that Calgary is giving them the shaft on this one - nobody Facebooks quite like T-Lusty.

There is also a straight-up offer for Kipper - this would involve Raycroft, one for one. Of course, Calgary is a clear winner in this one. After all, which one of these two guys has a Calder? Huh? That's what I'm talking about.

Oh, Montreal: Word is (and we're really about the last people to comment on this) that Montreal is interested in some local boys to freshen up the look of their team. Did I say "local?" Did I mention "looks?"

That's right. Montreal has offered Calgary a pair of Ray-bans in return for Matthew Lombardi. Darryl Sutter has not yet commented on this offer, but has been heard musing about whether the new shades would go with the cowboy hat. Jury is out on this one.

There's another local boy Montreal's interested in, as we all know. Alex Tanguay has attracted an amount of interest so intense Lombardi has been giving him pouty resentful looks this week. While Michael Ryder is the name most mentioned in combination with this, we have one Ryder already, and he's broken. Citing a mistrust of the manufacturer, Sutter has offered to package five first-round picks AND Tanguay, all in exchange for Carey Price's sweaty jockstrap. A whiff of that, and our boys will be ready to go all the way.

The Great Blue North: Edmonton has been looking for a stay-at-home kind of player (literally, they're looking for a guy who wouldn't leave the city), and everybody knows Regehr is THE stay at home man. Plus, it would signficantly reduce the amount of wear and tear on Ales Hemsky. The Oil, unbelievably, have offered quite generously, the rights to negotiate with one Chris Lauren Pronger, and a bag of pucks. And who can resist a steal like that?

This just in: Tampa has been busy tonight, and upon hearing about negotiations for Regehr's services, offered Calgary instead the bloody towel that staunched Dan Boyle's bizarre cut to the wrist earlier this year. Citing the tight timeline of the remaining season, and the rather difficult quarantine requirements for biological materials going across the border, Tampa was politely rebuffed. Unless they would like, publicly, to admit that goal in Game 6 was IN.

On the home front: Much impressed by his strong play since leaving the embrace of the press box (did we not tell you???), the Flames organization has today signed Marcus Nilson to a contract extension. The terms of the deal are undisclosed, but it is understood that #26 will get to cherrypick from amongst the local virgins offered annually to Dion Phaneuf as part of his contract extension. Er. So to speak.

And finally, a trade the Flames win: Our blogosphere comrades have much lamented this season that Eric Godard is kind of useless. Kind of really useless. Well, for a limited time only, we can swap him for an impact player. From Phoenix, no less. That's right! Godard will be shipped out to sunny Arizona, in a precedent-setting swap for SHAQUILLE O'NEAL. I don't think there's been a bigger impact player on the block this season. There is some risk involved on the Flames' front... if Godard is suspended by the NBA for any reason between now and playoff time, we have to take him back.

And actually, I take it all back. What's wrong with a nice quiet trade deadline?

I don't do mornings

...so this is the only way to put up a pre-game.

Ohhhh. The all-important divisional game. This one in particular is a huge one, since should we win and not give up any pity points, we'll be back atop the NW Division. Again.

I haven't been paying much attention to Minnesota this year, but they're on a slight skid, having lost the last two in a row, for reasons (honestly) unknown to me. Check out what Kirsten has to say, maybe. Ignore the Iggy hate, do.

We're building on some good momentum from the latter three games this week. I don't actually think it's a big deal whether Kipper bags a shutout or not, but it was nice for him to finally get that out of the way (besides saving my bacon in a couple of fantasy leagues). I really enjoyed the physical play they put forth against Detroit, though I could have done without Owen Nolan-the-bonehead.

Speaking of boneheaded, that Phaneuf hit on Kopecky looked pretty dangerous, though not intentionally malicious (I don't expect Dion to have a camera in his ass to notice Kopecky's helmet is off). From our experience with various Detroit fans from last year's playoffs, I have no doubt they will join their Edmontonian brethren in labeling Phaneuf a headhunting caveman who relishes small children, kittens, and fuzzy baby seals as his Sunday brunch entree. Whatever. He's OUR caveman.

What little we saw of Vandermeer looked fine, though (as expected) not stellar. Obviously opposing teams will push on him pretty hard until it's obvious he's used to the new team and the new system. Definitely an improvement on Eriksson, and no worse than last year's late pickup of David Hale.

I just want to say one more word about Alex Tanguay. Namely, BOOYEAH. Kudos to him for if not ignoring all the tedious trade talk, all but daring the Flames to trade him. I've pretty much been ignoring all mutterings about Tanguay, because even if it makes sense in a cap world, we don't get that far in the playoffs without him. And TSN and half of Montreal want us to trade him for spare parts? No way in hell.

So! It will be a Flames win, but afternoon games are pretty screwed up, so either the score is way high, or it's next to nil.

Staggering back in the saddle

Uhhhh...so where were we?

I've spent a week without watching the Flames or even following along on radio. I feel dirty.

(By the way, should any of you happen into Cookstown, Ontario, there is an outlet mall there containing a Reebook outlet which is selling pre-RBK Edge-era jerseys for half price. I'm just saying.)

The Flames should be feeling pretty dirty too, after that road trip. Squinting at the scores, it looks like they at least cleaned up their act in time to made Gretzky throw a hissy fit (I am really choked I missed that), and to continue to play strong against their Texan nemesis.

And Detroit... this month just isn't getting any easier. On the plus side, the Wings are pretty injured and will be missing Lidstrom a lot. On the minus side...these are the Wings. Can't ever take them (or say, other teams, like, LA...) for granted.

I'm going to need some time to get back in the swing of things, so this is staying short. Flames win in a squeaker, while I rummage about to see how Dave has kept you all entertained.

Dave?
Dave?
Oh, nevermind.

Walk This Way, Talk This Way

The Flames have split the first four games of this roadtrip, and are now facing the most challenging opponent of that entire road trip. Dallas has a history of owning the Flames as of late, and I'd hope that this does not continue.

Iginla has been picking it up again. I'm not going to say he's been hot, but he's been better than he has been recently. Phaneuf has been a (sorry) MONSTER. Ever since his signing, he's been the top Flame.

But on not-so-optimistic side, Calgary currently sits in 8th. On the edge between Playoffs and "This Is Oil Country", and a first round date with Detroit (which admittedly, isn't as scary as it once was right now). This is somewhat of an oddity, but Vancouver and Calgary are in an exact tie right now and I'm not sure why Vancouver is in 7th and not Calgary -- can't we at least go alphabetically by city name?
Vancouver: 60GP, 30-22-8, 68pts
Calgary: 60GP, 30-22-8, 68pts

I'm also continually amazed to look at Kiprusoff's stats and see a big fat "0" in shutouts this season. The guy can't seem to buy himself a shutout this season, though his sub-standard play is of course part of the blame, worse goalies have gotten shutouts this season? Is tonight the game for his shutout? Nope.

This will be a tough one, and everyone knows it. Part of me is scared to watch it. But, make no mistake, this is a BigGame™. Winning it can be the start of something beautiful!

Pack your bags!

And hope that the Habs don't steal them...

In all seriousness though, this is going to be a long tedious stretch of games, where the Flames don't see the lights of the 'Dome for a week and a half, as they churn through the Pacific Division. There's some tough teams, and some easy teams which have played tougher lately, which is worrying, given our history of underestimating the other guy.

Unfortunately, I too will be on the road, headed for the Eastern time zone, making it harder to watch games...maybe I'll crash Dave's place sometime and hijack the TV.

Anyways! Tonight we play the Sharks, who have quietly been having a darn decent year. They're back on track, and starting to win at home (I think). In terms of matchups, the secondary scoring which has been our primary scoring for the last month will be pretty key, and it would help if our primary scorers (not naming names, but y'know...) could get going too.

Hopefully they've gotten all the penalty-taking out of their system after the Edmonton game... we will get killed on special teams should bodies start piling up in the box.

I'm going to predict a strong start to the road trip, and a Flames victory. All those barns they're visiting... well.

Would the real Flames please stand up?

Oh, my.

That was quite the game the other night, wasn't it? While it wasn't quite what I had in mind, I think the best thing about the game was that it was old-school Battle of Alberta nights, re-visited. The intensity (missing for at least a year and half) and the nastiness was back, plus some.

It's so easy to be frustrated by our fickle forwards however...either Alex Tanguay is totally snakebit, or he needs to work on his timing when it comes to shooting at the net. Lots of good chances gone bad.

I want to put out some kudos especially to David Hale - he's had a strong couple of outings.

No major complaints, unlike the Chicago game (I didn't see what happened - things went south after I left the house, evidently).

I've sat on the standings for our fantasy hockey league for far too long...let me do a belated update here:

1. Woolly brained (me)
2. The Pant Weasels (Dave's brother)
3. The Hopelesses (MG)
4. Flaming C
5. Completely Hammered (ST)
6. The Pantless Pirates (Dave <------ FINALLY not dead last!)
7. Craig Conroys (Duncan. Guy, you can't let Dave get ahead!)

Overall, it's pretty tight at both the top and bottom, with lots of room in the middle. I am, however, in complete awe of MG's +/- totals, at an unbelieveable +92. Crazy stuff.