Flames Shoot Down Streaking Stars

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In a season where not much has gone right for the Calgary Flames, Friday night’s game was a welcome reprieve. In a game that felt more like a Twilight Zone episode the Flames outscored the Dallas Stars 7-4 tonight at the Scotiabank Saddledome ending the Stars 8 game road winning streak. How weird was this game? Let us count the ways.

First, after getting shutout and thoroughly humiliated on Wednesday night by the Minnesota Wild, the Flames score 7 times on just 19 shots. In other words Stars goalie Andrew Raycroft made a grand total of 12 saves for the entire game. That’s not going to help your save percentage.

Secondly. Some long slumps came to an end. Brendan Morrison’s second period marker was his first goal in 17 games while Olli Jokinen’s first period tally was his first in 11 games.

Thirdly. The Stars did score 4 times on just 21 shots but their defence looked tired and undermanned against a desperate Flames team.

Finally the Flames only power play opportunity came late in third period after they had scored all 7 goals.

From the outset this was going to be a high scoring game. Alex Tanguay opened the scoring at 3:40 of the first period stuffing home his 12th of the year after a lovely feed from Morrison. The Stars quickly tied it up on Brendan Morrow’s 19th of the campaign 5 minutes later, then took the lead when Brad Richards roofed home his 19th beating Flames goalie Henrik Karlsson on the short side. It looked like it was going to be another long night for Flames fans but the home team responded with Jokinen’s 9th goal.

The second period belonged to the Flames as Mikael Backlund tipped home a wonderful feed from Tim Jackman giving the Flames the lead. David Moss and Morrison followed suit as the Flames built a 3 goal lead. But the Stars refused to lay down as Nicklas Grossman scored his first of the season drawing the Stars within two as the period drew to a close.

The Stars looked poised for a comeback early in the third as the Flames coughed it up in their own zone and James Neal was there to capitalize making it a 5-4 game early in the third. But then the captain made his mark as Jarome Iginla fired home his 20th of the season giving the Flames a much needed insurance marker. Moss added his second of the night and the Flames never looked back.

Game Notes: The Stars were missing several key players tonight. Loui Eriksson’s consecutive game streak ended at 310 as he missed the game due to the flu. Matt Niskanen also missed the game due to a hand injury. The Flames were without Steve Staios (rib) and Tom Kostopoulos who served his sixth and final game of his suspension. Flames head out on the road for a game in Vancouver tomorrow night on Hockey Night in Canada. Stars will also travel to Vancouver for their next game on Monday.

Three Stars: 1 David Moss 2 Brendan Morrison 3 Mike Riberio