flames v. ducks: righting the ship

i've really only got a couple of game notes from last night's tilt at the pond, and i think there were a LOT of positives to take away from the third period (aka: the third mini-game). i can't wait til the floodgates open up behind some of these middling opposing goalies and we can actually get some goals. certainly wasn't for a lack of effort in anaheim, that's for damn sure....

i know i'm the biggest giordano supporter in the universe but the little things he was doing right a year ago (that made me want his name on my jersey) are taking over his game. sure, he's still prone to making occasional errors [so is jaybouw, who's widely considered to be one of the league's best] but he is SO SOUND positionally, and SO SMART with the puck that some really good things are starting to happen. he's listed as having 4 shots on goal last night, but i think i saw about twice that number of well-aimed bullets come off of gio's stick.

being a solid defenseman makes your partner that much stronger, and pairing gio with pardy was definitely a good call by brent/mcgill cause the young newfoundlander is starting to reap the benefits. i think pardy had his best game last night; i'm fairly sure that he saw some tougher than usual competition and was hella strong on the puck.

right now i see dion as the biggest problem on the blueline and it seems to me that it's a confidence issue. if there's any truth to the "selfish" comments or the presumption that he's disliked by his fellow Dmen, then perhaps dion's not the happiest guy in calgary right now (hollywood starlet girlfriend or NOT). he certainly refuses to engage the body infront of the net, and seems to defer to the point slapper at every turn (especially on the PP ---this HAS to stop). like they're discussing over at M&G today: i just don't see the accountability. if i were coaching this team, dion (not sjöström) would be sitting for a game.

as for my favorite of whipping boys, i think jokinen had a decent match last night. unlike #3, the wildcard was attempting hits, and being a bit more creative with the puck. the pass to glenX for the breakaway goal was pure genius, and the pass to iggy for the tying goal in the third was also well-played. while i still see him flat-footed more often than i'd like, he's unquestionably improving ---even if it IS baby steps...

the officiating in the game last night was some of the worst i've seen in ages. i really hope that whomever is in charge (this is me being too lazy to look it up) has a look at that game and points some things out to their minions.... a BLATANT non-call as glenX was tripped up coming out of the zone on a PK, and i really don't know how ANYONE (much less the refs) could have missed the guy holding sarich's stick behind the net. sarich was pretty much two-handed YANKING on his stick and the duck player still had a hold of it.... aaaaand if there was ever a textbook case of dangerous goaltender interference, it was corey perry's first offense last night. the second one (the one that led to an on-ice scuffle and offsetting minors to phaneuf and boynton) was clearly of jokinen's doing....

the other talking points of the game were:

• iggy not taking the shootout
• mcgrattan and prust drawing in over sjöström

for the first, i gotta say that it was probably a mistake (even though i was all for sitting the captain, who's got a terrible shootout %, at the time)... with bourque and sjöström out of the lineup, iggy's probably a better bet than dawes for the first man.... though i think giving jokinen and glenX the nod was the right call... ultimately, i think the flames had better start practicing the shootout (there's no way we do now), cause those are some seriously big points to lose come the end of the season....

as for the second point , i truly think that freddan's unwell. maybe he had the sniffles or perhaps he's a little extra bruised somewhere but i don't see how that guy getting pressbox time over prust AND mcgrattan is a hockey decision. while he's no longer considered first line material (*snicker*), his +/- 8:00 per night is over twice that of the other two players; i simply don't understand why brent would essentially limit himself to three lines by giving the swede the night off....

still no word on bourque's injuries.
yikes.