Flames Ground The Jets

With an injured list growing bigger by the day, The Calgary Flames beat the Winnipeg Jets 5-3 last night at the Scotiabank Saddledome to stay in the playoff hunt. A few scattered thoughts from here on the game, and looking ahead:

Great to see the big guns play well. Alex Tanguay had a goal and three assists, and Jarome Iginla pitched in with three points of his own. With the Flames already lacking offensive depth, and the injuries that keep happening, they need their stars to be stars. The much-maligned Matt Stajan, starting on Iginla’s line, pitched in with a goal and an assist of his own.

The scoring the last couple of games has been nice for Calgary, but the goals against they’ve allowed of late has to be worrying to coach Brent Sutter. The Flames have allowed an average of 3.67 goals over their last nine games, which a number to keep an eye on coming down the stretch. The reason for this is they’ve allowed a lot of shots on goal, which is a Flames staple the last few years. It’s a fine line to walk, since the Flames need to take some chances to generate offence, but they’ll probably want to tighten up the ship defensively if they’re going to make the postseason.

Speaking of letting in goals, a bow to Miikka Kiprusoff for picking up his 30th win on the season. Though there’s been some talk of his decline the last few years, he’s been very good this year, and is still capable of putting the team on his back and getting them a victory they didn’t deserve. Which this one may have been, as he made 42 saves.

The game against the Jets represents the Flames’ last game against an Eastern Conference foe this year, barring a run to the Stanley Cup Finals. The win helps Calgary keep pace with the Los Angeles Kings and Colorado Avalanche for ninth place in the Western Conference, one point behind the eighth-place San Jose Sharks (who have two games in hand, it should be noted) and two behind the seventh-place Phoenix Coyotes.

The Jets, for their part, are in a similar predicament to Calgary: They’re in ninth place in the East (technically tied with the Washington Capitals, who have two games in hand), and could have used a win to get sole posession of eighth place. Though they and Washington are both three points behind the Southeast division leading Florida Panthers for third overall in the East.

I love the chaos of playoff races, even if I wish the Flames were in a better spot.

Go Flames Go!