Calgary…4
San Jose..3
You might think that you’d been sent back to the 1990′s if you looked at the 3 Stars of this game. Curtis Joseph…. Owen Nolan…. what year is it anyways?
But the Calgary Flames veterans came up huge in game 3 to salvage an early 3-0 deficit and lead the Flames to a 4-3 victory. CuJo stopped all 22 shots he faced, and Nolan scored the game winner with 3:45 left in the 3rd period.
The San Jose Sharks silenced a roudy Saddledome crowd by scoring 3 goals in the first 3:33 of the first period. The ever-pesty Ryan Clowe scored first, and then set up Patrick Marleau for his first goal of the post-season. Douglas murray added the 3rd goal 14 seconds after Marleau’s.
That was enough for Flames coach Mike Keenan to pull Miikka Kiprusoff and put in CuJo. This situation is exactly the reason the Flames picked up CuJo in the first place. The playoffs are no time to pull Kipper and put in some no-name second-rate goalie. In the playoffs, you need to have somebody that can play.
And CuJo showed that he can still play! He shutout the Sharks for 56 minutes and 27 seconds, and was all smiles in his post game interview. If anyone had their doubts about the Flames goaltending team, they should be pretty sure now.
Scoring Summary
1st Period
SJS: Clowe A: Thornton
SJS: Marleau A: Clowe, Pavelski
SJS: Murray A: Cheechoo, Thornton
CGY:Iginla A: Phaneuf, Aucoin
2nd Period
CGY: Langkow A:Iginla, Nolan
3rd Period
CGY: Phaneuf A: Huselius, Nolan
CGY: Nolan A: Tanguay, Sarich
Greg is the founder of Red Mile Blog has been following the Flames through good times and bad since they arrived in Calgary in the early 80s. He has written hundreds of articles on the Flames since 2005 and considers himself an expert on hockey inconsistency and frustration. He shoots right and usually plays defence, but has been known to jump up in the rush. He is a 2-time CAHL men's league champion and knows the sweet taste of beer from a Cup.
