Game Day: Flames And Flyers At The Dome
By Cait Platt
The once a year meeting of the Calgary Flames and Philadelphia Flyers comes on the cusp of the Flyers being shut out by the Edmonton Oilers and the Flames being blown out by the Oilers. The Flames do have a slight advantage with a near win (a shoot out loss) against the Phoenix Coyotes, but if you share the opinions of Jay Feaster and myself, Thursday night’s total collapse is unacceptable.
The Flames really need to step it up, play more than just the first period. Going up 2-0 on the Flyers in the first 20 and then hoping they don’t score won’t work. The Flyers are 5th in the Eastern Conference, and while February has not been “their” month, the despriation to leave the month on a high note must be dogging Peter Laviolette and the Broad Street Bullies.
With the rumors swirling about the Flames on potential trades in the upcoming days, this is the last chance before the Trade Deadline to show Feaster the team has what it takes to make it to the playoffs with the current roster.
The Flames have the return of Derek Smith and Curtis Glencross to look forward to, yes they did play on Thursday but more time was clearly needed to have the lines adjust to their return. Since Glencross’s injury there has been much shuffling in the roster, Krys Kolanos and Mike Cammalleri have joined the team while Rene Bourque is no longer a Flame. Yes, Glencross has been out that long. And with all the injuries, Flames have recalled Guillaume Desbiens from the Heat to play on the 4th line with Matt Stajan and Lance Bouma. Please! I take back everyone get better so Desbiens can go away!
Truthfully, I don’t have much hope for tomorrow. How I feel? The Flames will not win. The Flames will be out played, be knocked around by the aggressive Flyers, and will probably end up with another player on the IR. That’s the feeling I’m getting from this game. But once again, I really hope I’m wrong.
Don’t forget, puck drops at 8pm!
Go Flames Go!