Ducks Spoil Flames’ Comeback and Win in Overtime

Posted on March 20th, 2011

Archived in Calgary Flames, Game Summary, Western Conference

Tags

Anaheim Ducks, Bourque, Iginla, kostopolous, Loss, Overtime, Road

The Calgary Flames came back from a 3-0 deficit and took the lead midway through the third period, but they couldn’t hold off the Anaheim Ducks for the win. After Teemu Selanne tied the game with 2 minutes left in regulation, Corey Perry scored the game winner in overtime to give the Ducks the extra point. With the loss, the Flames extend their win-less streak in Anaheim to 13 games.

The Flames came out flat and soon found themselves down three goals just 5:49 into the game. Brent Sutter pulled Flames goalie Miikka Kiprusoff after Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry and Francois Beauchemin scored quickly in the first. The goaltending change sparked the Flames, and they put together an amazing comeback. After picking up some momentum over the next 10 minutes, they ended up breaking Dan Ellis’ shutout with just over a minute left in the first period when Tom Kostopolous notched his 7th goal of the season.

Rene Bourque added another goal eight minutes into the second period, and Tom Kostopolous completed the comeback with a re-direct of Steve Staios’ point shot at 16:44. It was an unbelievable comeback for some, but not for all. The way the Flames have played for the last half of the NHL season, it is not at all surprising, and it got even better in the third period.

With 13 minutes remaining in the game, Jarome Iginla scored his 33rd goal of the year on the powerplay to give the Flames the lead. And it was a beauty. Iggy waited patiently with the puck at the half-boards until Ellis was sufficiently screened by Tim Jackman then sniped a shot over his right shoulder. Ellis had been doing his best to see around Jackman, and didn’t even see the shot. The Flames had a couple other good chances to increase their lead, but Ellis was equal to the task, and kept his team in it.

The Flames bandwagon has been filling and emptying faster than a pitcher of beer on game night and as quickly as quickly as it filled up when Iggy scored, it emptied out just as fast when Selanne and Perry scored to give the Ducks the win. Luckily, I’m not one of those guys jumping off and breaking my ankles…

With less games remaining than everyone else in the West, these two points were very important to the Flames. Unfortunately they were equally as important for the Ducks, who stay ahead of Calgary in the standings and leapfrog over the Dallas Stars into the final playoff spot.

I can’t really say that this game is a big disappointment though. I was expecting either a big blowout win, or a major loss and the Flames came out with a point in a game that the refs obviously thought they had no business being in. Yes, I know it’s weak to complain about the refs, but this game was about as poorly reffed as I can remember in a while. I don’t plan on dwelling on it and neither should you. It’s time to put it behind us and prepare for tomorrow night’s game in LA. Puck drop is at 8:30.

About Greg Hounslow (554 Posts)

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.

OldeBuffalo

I try to refrain from being critical of referee’s calls especially when they go against the Flames in the knowledge that referees are human and they make mistakes and those mistakes usually even out over time.

However, last night I saw two mistakes in officiating, both of which resulted in power play goals for the Ducks, one of which resulted in the winning goal.

Lifting an opponent’s stick with your stick to gain possession of the puck is one of the first checks kids learn when they first take up the game. It’s called a STICK CHECK it’s not called HOOKING and Robin Regher executed a perfect stick check he did not hook the Ducks player.

Then in overtime, Curtis Glencross and a Ducks defenceman were battling for position in front of the Ducks goal. Some of that battle constituted crosschecks by both players that went uncalled. Then the puck went behind the Duck’s goal and in the battle to get to it, Glencross ran over the Ducks player who fell to the ice and up went the referee’s arm. Calling a cheap penalty like that in OVERTIME undoubtedly ended the game in favour of the Ducks and may have ended the Flames push to get into the playoffs.

Refereeing in the NHL has become a joke, primarily because of the influence of a 5 ft. nothing little twerp that thinks he knows everything there is to know about hockey when in fact he knows dick-all. We now have goons that are allowed to run all over the ice charging and boarding other players headfirst into the boards. Those ‘exciting plays’ make the glass rattle so the no-nothing American fans get really excited and might come to another game instead of going to a high school footfall game in Florida or to a tractor pull in a mud filled swamp in Carolina.