Game 13: Coyotes @ Flames, 8:00 MT (Sportsnet West / Fan960)
Phoenix Coyotes: 4-5-0, 4th in Pacific, 14th in Western Conference
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Calgary Flames: 7-4-1, 2nd in Northwest , 4th in Western Conference
The Flames look to start a new winning streak tonight as they face the Phoenix Coyotes in Calgary.
This game will be the 2nd time these clubs meet this regular season, with the teams heading in opposite directions. The Flames won the previous game in convincing fashion with a score of 4-1, a game where Brandon Prust scored his first goal of the season.
The Flames had their 6 game winning streak snapped Sunday with a 3-2 loss against the Ducks. The Coyotes lost their last game 3-2 against the Minnesota Wild on Saturday.
According to Rob Kerr, Miikka Kiprusoff looks like he will be the starter for tonight. Also, it appears as though the injury to Regher was very minor, as he was on the ice this morning, but will be a game-time decision.
Win the first period: The Coyotes have not won a game this season when trailing after the first frame. No reason for that to stop tonight.
Power up: The Flames Power play is ranked 5th in the league, while the Phoenix PK is ranked 20th. A perfect opportunity to csah in on some man advantages.
Kippers night off?: The Flames defence was a bit of sloppy over the weekend, but Kipper bailed them out. With McElhinney possibly in net tonight, the defence needs to play better. However, even if Kipper gets the nod, that's no excuse to play sloppily.
Time to get back to our winning ways!
Last edited by Cyrus: 11-04-2008 at 03:30 PM.
Reason: New Info
Hopefully it's back to the win column when this one is all said and done. Sucks Regehr won't play, but hopefully the defense can step up in his absence, and not only fill in for him but help out McElhinney if he is in fact starting. Just win!
"It'll be a game-time decision," said the Flames coach. "We'll evaluate him at that point. He feels much better than he has. He'll let us know at game time what the outcome will be."
Quote:
Flames lines:
* Rene Bourque-Craig Conroy-Jarome Iginla
* Michael Cammalleri-Daymond Langkow-Todd Bertuzzi
* Curtis Glencross-Dustin Boyd-David Moss
* Eric Nystrom-Wayne Primeau-Brandon Prust
For what it's worth, G Miikka Kiprusoff was off the ice first, indicating a start tonight. Also skating this morning was C Matthew Lombardi (upper body).
Looks like Kipper is starting tonight. I really want to see McElhinney get a start soon. Lets show some confidence in the kid. Had a good preseason and deserves a start. Really hope Keenan lets him play soon.
Hopefully we aren't rushing Regehr. If he needs a couple more days off give it to him. He is to important to be risking. With or without Regehr it is important for the flames to get back in the win column. The Coyotes haven't been as good as I thought they would be and hopefully the flames can play like the last time we faced them.
If you cant start McE this game, what is the point of having him around anyways? He signed a one year deal, (not sure if he'll be an RFA or UFA) so we could lose him in the off-season. Why not give a few starts, especially in a game where we have dominated the other team in the last 15 games. See if he has capabilities to be more than a gate opener like clemmenson was behind brodeur for years.
If Kipper is playing it is because he wants to play.....sheesh. Curtus McElhinny will play his arbitrary 10/12 games at some point. I except we'll see him either on Thursday or this weekend and we'll get to view his capabilities then.
Kipper has an all-time 9-3-1 record and a 1.97 goals-against average in 13 games against Phoenix. Sometimes a goalie is virtually unbeatable by some teams. So in this case, why not play Kipper with this in mind. Similarily, I would be incredibly suprised if Khabibulin doesn't play against us when we play Chicago for the same reason, Khabi has our number.
Not that this is the end-all of factors to make the decision.
I'm sure it won't be too long before McE gets a start.
Kipper has an all-time 9-3-1 record and a 1.97 goals-against average in 13 games against Phoenix. Sometimes a goalie is virtually unbeatable by some teams. So in this case, why not play Kipper with this in mind. Similarily, I would be incredibly suprised if Khabibulin doesn't play against us when we play Chicago for the same reason, Khabi has our number.
Not that this is the end-all of factors to make the decision.
I'm sure it won't be too long before McE gets a start.
There's the point, in fact your comment is not really relevant, is this the same crappy Coyote team of the last 4 years? Do these stats imply that Kipprusoff plays his best when the opposing team has a dog on their chest or is it merely coincidence?
I know there are some occasions where a player strings together a few good games against one team and every time afterward their confidence raises against said team. There are a few examples of such throughout the league that cannot be dismissed as coincidence, in this situation I'm not convinced. It's not like we're talking about the Stars or the Wings here.
There's the point, in fact your comment is not really relevant, is this the same crappy Coyote team of the last 4 years? Do these stats imply that Kipprusoff plays his best when the opposing team has a dog on their chest or is it merely coincidence?
I know there are some occasions where a player strings together a few good games against one team and every time afterward their confidence raises against said team. There are a few examples of such throughout the league that cannot be dismissed as coincidence, in this situation I'm not convinced. It's not like we're talking about the Stars or the Wings here.
I will admit that it is quite possible that this is a coincidence. In bringing up this point, I was trying to offer a possible reason as to why McE wouldn't start tonight and I do believe that a stat like this might play into it based mostly on the confidence issue you mentioned.
Also, look at it from the other side: if, when we played Phoenix earlier this season, say Kipper played poorly and let in 3-4 goals and we lost. I would then fully expect McE to be playing tonight for the same reason.
So, while it is by no means an excellent (heck, probably not even a good) reason, I do think it came into play.
Dissapointing first period. Came out good in the first 5 minutes, but after that really struggled. PP looked awful and gave up a goal against as well. PP needs to be a lot better. I think the flames are fortunate to be tied at 2. Hopefully they can wake up and get it going.
Great way to start!!Well at least for the first 10 minutes or so. It was all Flames, all the time. Great passing, good defensive coverage, and acceptable offensive zone pressure. You know, all the little things that truly elite teams do, that's what the Flames were doing. And it was beautiful. Then our Power Play Unit hit the ice.
Not only did they give up a shorthanded goal, but on the very next PP they almost allowed the exact same thing to happen again!! Serious, 5th best in the league? Not the way they are playing tonight. Time to remove your heads from your collective rectal areas guys. Come on!! After that the Flames seemed to have lost their edge a little, and fell behind, due to nothing more than poor decisions. Thankfully, Boyd's goal (great shot, Boyd was lucky to be where he was) could not have been more timely.
I wonder if McE will get a chance in the third. Seems Kipper is distracted tonight. Would be great to see the team come back in the third but they all appear out of it in a way... then Centre Ice just died so it all went blank. Joy
