Photo Credit: Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports
It was an intense game for the Flames last night in the wake of trading Reto Berra to the Avalanche and Lee Stempniak to the Penguins, but the team held it together and played a great game of hockey. With the youth taking over the Flames organization for the past year, it’s been a year of ups and downs, but, above all else, it’s definitely been entertaining!
It was an evening of firsts for the youth movement at the Saddledome last night. Corban Knight played his first game as he and Max Reinhart were recalled from the Abbotsford Heat to replace some of the injured players. Calgary opened the scoring in the first with a beauty goal by Markus Granlund with the assist to Max Reinhart, which was Granlund’s first NHL goal. Good job, kid! The first period ended with the Flames up 1-0.
Paul Byron put the Flames up by two in the second period and Joe Colborne capitalized on a great pass from Jiri Hudler to end the second period by a score of 3-0 for the home team.
Halfway through the third period, Kyle Turris broke the shutout by scoring on Joni Ortio but the Flames got one back before the end of the period. With a sweet wrister by Mike Cammalleri, the final score was 4-1 for the Calgary Flames.
After being hit awkwardly into the boards by MacArthur, Hudler laid on the ice in pain for a few minutes as his teammates, including Sean Monahan, came to his aid. The team has come leaps and bounds from the time when Jarome Iginla would defend himself while the rest of the team would stand around and watch. Now the Flames aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty when one of their own has fallen. I feel as though they truly are playing as a team again.
Colborne took a nasty fall into the boards later in the game as well, which sent him to the dressing room. But, from what I’ve read on twitter, he was back on the bench in the final frame.
Colborne back on the bench..
— Lee Snowden (@Snowden4000) March 6, 2014
The Flames have now won 10 of their last 13 games and are slowly crawling out of the bottom spot in the standings. They sit in 27th place with 55 points.
My 1 Star
Joni Ortio
I wouldn’t be disappointed in the least to have Ortio as starting goaltender for the Flames. His reflexes are astounding and he plays with a maturity and calmness that could rival even the most seasoned veteran. He stops rebounds even after being rushed by the opposition and he never seems to get flustered. I hope we will be seeing a lot more of this 22 year old Finnish goalie. This was Ortio’s first NHL win. And what a win it was! Apparently, I’m not the only one who sees a lot of the days of ol’ in the new netminder…
Go Flames!