Newman

Calgary, AB • Canada • 29 Years Old • Male

Mo-Vember ends with a W

With the win tonight the Flames finished the month of November with a 4-7-2 record – a far cry from last year’s 10-2-2 domination over the month of Moustaches.

For his part, Jarome Iginla continued his November tirade scoring eight goals and adding five assists in 13 games. Not only did he score more, but Iginla began asserting himself more in the play. He was the Iggy of old and it really couldn’t have come at a better time.

Funny enough, Alex Tanguay had 13 points (2G 11A) as well in the 13 games in November. This has been a definite bright spot for the Flames this year as Tanguay and Iginla actually have chemistry – which has been hard to come by recently.

Bouwmeester matched his total goals output from all of last year with his third of the season tonight; proving that last year WAS maybe just an off year. I’m not saying Bouw will score 20 or even 15, but ten goals are definitely in range. He also leads the team with a +8 rating – last year he finished the season -4. Bouwmeester has really come on of late and has been Calgary’s best defenseman (flip-flopping with Gio for that title) for the past handful of games.

Tonight marked Kipper’s third shutout of the year, all of which have been on home ice.

And if you’re stretching for more good news, then tonight was Calgary’s second straight win at home, and brings their record under the Dome to 6-5.

Olli Jokinen played his role well tonight. Fine, I’ll give him props. The all Euro line of Hagman-Backlund-Jokinen provided some jump throughout the game and Jokinen and Hagman connected on the third goal as well.

Hagman’s goal was actually of the power play variety and broke a 14 chance drought for the team by burying one late in the game. The unit still sits 24th in the league with a 14.7% completion rate – definition of a constant struggle.

The Flames still sit 5th last in the league in face-off %. Something that was supposed to be helped by the addition of Stajan last year, but clearly has not changed.

The Flames improved to 3-4-1 when being outshot. Conversely they are 7-8-1 when outshooting their opponent. Random? Yes. Interesting? Kind of.

That was the 4th time this season the Flames have beat an opponent by three or more goals.

And for the most random and meaningless stat of the night: Since the 2008-09 season the Flames have outscored their opponent 11-1 during the last game they played in the month of November.

Not to sound clichéd but these games against the Wild, in the division, are as MUST WIN as you can get and the Flames did such.

The Canucks are here Wednesday. They are coming off of back-to-back wins over the Sharks and the Avalanche. This is the first meeting between the two teams this season. Last year they split the season series 3-3.

This blog was stat filled, I know. Maybe I don’t know how to compliment this team, because I have come to expect such garbage.

Cop out? Yes, but we all know how inconsistent this team is.

Don't forget to check out Bryan "The Rev" Wright's visit to the brand new CONSOL Energy Center in Pittsburgh here: http://www.thesportsround...l-energy-center.html#more

Newman
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