Calgary Flames Hosted Phliadelphia Flyers Dec 31 – Game Recap
By Traci Kay
With so many questions up in the air in regards to the Calgary Flames, I will admit that I didn’t have high hopes that the Flames would win their last game of 2013 against the Philadelphia Flyers.
I was happily surprised to see that they held their ground and did a good job of defending the net and attempting to set up plays. If only they could have finished off those plays and executed more shots on net, the final score probably would have been very different.
The first period started out very physical with McGrattan and newcomer Westgarth framing Colborne on a big line for Calgary. The Flames held off the Flyers better than I could have imagined in the first and that effort continued through most of the game. But, Streit opened the scoring in the first period and they went to intermission with a score of 1-0 for the Flyers.
The second period was more productive for the Flames squad as Monahan broke the 159:35 goal-less streak by netting a perfect set-up by Byron after a turnover in the neutral zone. The Flyers answered back a few minutes later to put them ahead again. The second ended with Philadelphia up 2-1.
A goal by Hartnell in the third frame put the Flyers up by two goals. Even though the Flames fought back as much as they could by initiating plays, their lack of finishing wasn’t enough to get them out of the two-goal deficit. An empty net goal at the end of the game finalized the game with a score of 4-1 for the Philadelphia Flyers.
After this loss, the Flames are now 0-3-0 since Christmas.
The defense has been mediocre but seems to be getting better. The initiation of set-ups is abundant, but the they can’t seem to finish off the plays. After hitting posts, shooting wide, and passing more then shooting, the Flames need to work on their offensive play next. Their number one focus right now needs to be shoot the puck.
There’s a lot of confusion going on in the organization right now, so it’s understandable if the players feel disoriented. Recently, there have been a lot of changes within the organization, such as the firing of Feaster, the addition of Westgarth (who didn’t even know if he’d make it in time to play last night’s game), and numerous call-ups and sending players back down.
Today, Chris Breen was placed on waivers and, I believe, it’s so that they can send him back down to play in Abbotsford. As well, Markus Granlund has been called up to the Flames, but he hasn’t yet played for the team. Things are changing at a rapid pace and my only hope is that I can keep everyone updated and informed to the best of my ability.
Happy New Year everyone!
Cheers to a great 2014!
Go Flames Go!