Flames defeat shorthanded Rangers 3-1

November 8, 2009   ·   Derek Felix   ·   Jump to comments

Last night, the Rangers fell to Calgary 3-1 at The Saddledome. Despite a valiant effort minus centers Chris Drury (concussion) and Brandon Dubinsky (broken left wrist), they played well enough to win in a place that’s given them nightmares. How to describe the latest loss? Frustrating. As I alluded to late last night, the refs did us no favors, somehow missing Curtis Glencross’ blatant cheapshot of a defenseless Drury 46 seconds in. A disgusting play which our coach accurately assessed was a major. Such is life I guess.

Will our teflon league that talks tough but never backs it up sorta like Tort even suspend Glencross more than a game? I swear the NHL is so full of crap sometimes. Speaking of which, will the powers to be that protected the Coyotes while royally screwing The Great One back up Columbus, who reportedly are losing big? One would hope so. Especially for a team that is coming off their first postseason and is sitting third in the ultra competitive West.

Getting back to the game, I should’ve known right there that it would be an ominous sign of things to come. The first period was one of the best I’ve seen this season. Back and forth with each team going hard like Jay Z. Brent Sutter’s Flames sure play his style, finishing every check while attacking with vigor. Though our roster doesn’t compare, they did bring it, matching Calgary’s intensity. As John Tortorella noted, it was one of their best games this season. Sometimes, it doesn’t always fall your way. If our guys played that way all the time, I’d have zero gripes. Now, they’re facing their first crisis. With no Dru and Dubi, that means only two real centers with Vinny Prospal shifting. Yesterday, Tort bumped up Brian Boyle while playing Artem Anisimov more and creating some makeshift lines due to being down two forwards. Even Sean Avery tried for a change.

With Henrik Lundqvist (groin) out again, backup Steve Valiquette made a second straight start doing a respectable job. None of the goals were his fault. Still, Calgary struck early when Daymond Langkow redirected an Adam Pardy point shot for his 250th career goal. The play was started by former Ranger Nigel Dawes, who predictably had a great night setting up all three Calgary markers. Also on the play, Avery didn’t do a good job which allowed the Flames to sustain pressure necessary for the marker.

Rather than getting discouraged, the Blueshirts came back when Marian Gaborik and Prospal combined to setup Dan Girardi’s fourth (first in 11 games). On the play, Gaborik drew attention and dished across for Prospal, who escaped a check along the right wall before passing for an open Girardi, who one-timed it past Miikka Kiprusoff to tie it. Prospal and Gaborik were strong all game but Kipper’s netminding kept them at bay with the former Vezina winner making 32 saves. Ultimately, he was the difference on a night the Rangers held a 33-22 SOG edge.

Nothing separated the teams in another competitive second that saw each take turns looking for the next goal which never came. The Ranger forecheck was good but Kiprusoff withstood the challenge, giving his ‘mates a chance. The turning point came in the third when Ales Kotalik was nabbed for a double minor high sticking which handed the Flames a power play despite a minor also to Langkow. My main beef with the call was that it came some 21 seconds after the play finished with our player taken down for what looked to be the only penalty. True, Kotalik did high stick a Flame but it should’ve been called much earlier on the shift summing up how poor a night the officials had. Not shockingly, Calgary notched the winner when Jarome Iginla took a Dawes feed and went top shelf from the slot on Valiquette. On the rush, Dawes slipped a pass around Matt Gilroy, who didn’t do the job despite being in decent position. He learned a lesson. Earlier in the shift, Gaborik and Prospal had a good shorthanded bid denied by Kiprusoff. Instead, the Flames came down and scored.

Trailing by one, the Rangers had chances to tie, including Kotalik setup on the doorstep off a two-on-one but he pushed it wide with Kipper out of position. They continued to attack but it wouldn’t matter when Marc Staal made an awful decision, passing up a shot for a horizontal pass which was picked off by Calgary, who went three-on-one and scored the back breaker. Dawes fed the trailer Rene Bourque, who finished his sixth for 3-1 with 3:25 left. At that point, I went upstairs. What’s the point? They weren’t coming back from that.

BONY 3 Stars:

3rd Star-Daymond Langkow, Cgy (goal/assist, 2 SOG, +2 in 17:19)

2nd Star-Nigel Dawes, Cgy (3 assists, 2 SOG, +2 in 16:56)

1st Star-Miikka Kiprusoff, Cgy (32 saves incl.13/13 in 3rd)