Flames vs. Ducks - Game Two Review

Im hoping the Flames played a rousing round of "Frontal Lobe Lobotomy" before the yesterday's contest. It's the only way to explain the blatant stupidity that seemed to infect the entire roster.

Short-handed break-aways and 2on1's aplenty. neutral zone give-aways, ill-conceived pinches and bobbled passes.

Yes, it was a veritable litany of defensive blunders. Compounded by a first period that included preciesly zero offensive-zone pressure, Calgary's frequent brain-cramps proved to be insurmountable in the end. Against any NHL team, let alone a Ducks squad boasting some decent offensive threats, the Flame's baffling penchant for error would have proven disasterous. It certainly didn't help that 3 of the Quackers first 5 shots went in the net. Not that Kipper can rightly be faulted for any of the goals against. While his teammates didn't give up a lot of shots, those rare chances that were yielded were often of the "silver-platter" type.

To be fair, the Flames nearly turned a disaster into a feel-good special. In a way, Calgary played one half of a really good game. Unfortunately, the hole they decided to dig en route to turning it around mid-way through the second frame was a little too deep. One has to hope that the second half Flames squad from last night, sans Phaneuf pinch, will show up tomorrow night and turn this whole mess around...

Positives:

- Jarome Iginla. Two periods of dominant hockey. Cued the comeback with a SH goal.

- Kristian Huselius. Continues to be a significant offensive zone presence. Scores one of the fanciest goals by a guy wearing a Flames sweater all year.

- Mike Leclerc. I was a little skeptical about Leclerc's insertion into the line-up...however, he proved to be one of the best forwards along the wall in the offensive zone all night.

- Powerplay. While still not overwhelming, did managed to score twice on 12 opportunities.

- Penalty-kill. 6 for 6. Still perfect in the series.

Negatives:

- Dion Phaneuf. The rookie is struggling out there. Two incredibly bad decisions lead to Duck goals #1 and 4. Needs to figure it out or sit on the bench.

- Roman Hamrlik. Minus 4 on the night. Unfortunately for Roman, he was frequently victimized by other player's mistakes last night. Observe:

First goal: Amonte fails to clear the puck and Dion knocks a floating point shot onto Kunitz's stick in the slot.

Second goal: Hamrlik sneaks in from the point and Lombardi covers his position. The puck squirts back to Lombo who promptly gives it up to Niedermayer who scores on the ensuing break-away.

Third Goal: Warrener pinches and sets up Kobasew in the slot. Chucky fans on the shot and the puck goes back to Craig Mcdonald on the point. Mcdonald makes what looks like a soft, outlet pass to Selanne who quickly sets up Lupul on the resultant 2on1 (vs Hammer).

Fourth Goal: The Phaneuf pinch.

Then again, he's still -4.

- Matthew Lombardi. Also -4, and at least one of the goals was directly attributal to him.

- Chuck Kobasew. Skates around a lot but doesn't seem to execute anything in particular.
- Tony Amonte. The only time I noticed Amonte last night was when he decided to miss Roman's clearing pass on the first Anaheim goal.

I will grudgingly admit that the Ducks have played very well in the last 2 games. I can take some minute level of comfort in that it's not ALL Calgary playing badly - their opponent has thus far been a worthy one. It's pretty clear that the Flames will have to elevate their play (and cut down on the pre-game lobotomy stuff) if they want to make it out of this first round.