Flames Re-ignite

Another game with a high number of shots on the opposing team came to no avail for the Red Wings, as they lost to the Calgary Flames, 2-0.

Detroit came to play against a rather shaken up Calgary Flames team. After a penalty-filled game against Anaheim, the Flames wound up with two players and their head coach, Greg Gilbert, suspended. It did not seem to affect their play against the Red Wings, however.

The first period went by scoreless. Both the Wings and the Flames had their share of scoring opportunities, but goaltenders Dominik Hasek and Mike Vernon came up big for their respective teams. Detroit got a power play chance five minutes into the game, when Denis Gauthier was sent to the box for holding, but was unable to score.

Detroit tightened up the play in the second period, holding the Flames to only six shots against Hasek, compared to their own thirteen against Vernon. Still, in spite of a double rebound attempt by Chris Chelios and two well-organized power play chances, Vernon kept his former team off the board.

Sixteen seconds before the end of the period, Igor Larionov was injured when Chris Clark’s stick hit him in the groin/thigh area. Larionov had to be helped off the ice and did not return for the rest of the game. No penalty was called on the play.

The Flames scored their first goal just over four minutes into the third period. In a play apparently unseen by the referees, Brendan Shanahan was slashed on the wrist and unable to clear the puck from Detroit’s zone. Jarome Iginla was waiting. He took the rebound from Dean McAmmond’s shot and flipped it into the net behind the sprawled Hasek.

Detroit tried to boost the offense for the rest of the game, but Vernon was up for the challenge. The Red Wings got what could have been their game-tying chance with 1:17 left to play, when Iginla was given an elbowing penalty. The faceoff was deep in the Calgary zone, so they pulled Hasek for an extra skater. Unfortunately, with only fourteen seconds left, Rob Niedermayer shot the puck away from the Flames’ zone, and it slid all the way down into the empty net to seal Calgary’s lock on the first shut out against the Red Wings this season.

Hasek stopped twenty-four of the twenty-five shots the Flames sent against him, while Vernon, playing in the number one goalie position for Calgary while Roman Turek is out with a knee injury, stopped all twenty-eight of the shots he faced, to gain his twenty-seventh career shutout and snap a twelve game winless streak dating from February of this year.

Hasek stopped twenty-four of the twenty-five shots the Flames sent against him, while Vernon, playing in the number one goalie position for Calgary while Roman Turek is out with a knee injury, stopped all twenty-eight of the shots he faced, to gain his twenty-seventh career shutout and snap a twelve game winless streak dating from February of this year.