The good news is that the Flames are safe. No records were set tonight. In case you were wondering, the most goals by one NHL team in one period is 9. That feat was accomplished by the Buffalo Sabres in the 2nd period on March 19, 1981 against the Toronto Maple Leafs. The good news for Leafs fans is that they scored 3 goals of their own, so they were actually outscored by the exact same amount that the Flames were tonight in the 2nd period: 6 goals to zero.
The Flames started fast, jumping to a 2-0 lead, but came up short in the second period when they gave up 6 unanswered goals to the visiting Washington Capitals. Alexander Ovechkin scored 2 powerplay goals, 12 seconds apart, to tie the game and put the Capitals ahead for good. From that point on, the floodgates opened and the Capitals didn’t look back.
Ovechkin’s quick burst was almost beat by Mike Green and Mark Bradley (aka Cory Sarich), who scored 13 seconds apart to put the Caps up 5-2 halfway through the second period. A few seconds after Green scored with a nice wrist shot from the slot, Sarich gloved the puck to the ice and banged it into his own net past a stunned Miikka Kiprusoff. This was really the point in the game where the Flames came unraveled and a one goal deficit quickly turned into a 3-goal deficit. There wasn’t much the Flames could do about it and everyone knew it, including Miikka Kiprusoff, who pulled himself from the Flames net.
As Henrik Karlsson took to the ice, Flames fans either headed to the bar in droves or turned off their TVs to escape the carnage. It was carnage on the ice and carnage in the broadcast booth as CBC’s Kevin Weekes and Scott Oake absolutely slaughtered the game. I’m actually glad that I was in the ‘Dome tonight so I didn’t have to listen to their commentary on TV. From what I read in the Twitterverse, it was one of the most biased broadcasts in recent memory, and was not worthy of a CBC Hockey Night in Canada Broadcast.
That pretty much sums it up. The Flames played a horrible 20 minutes, and the CBC put together a horrible HNIC broadcast tonight. It’s a good thing we were both on the same page. At least Kevin Weekes can be happy because Canucks fans are happy.
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.
