Club’s fortunes looking up after big victory
A piece of wreckage to cling to floating in the debris field of a cold, clammy sea. A tiny flower bud jutting out defiantly from an otherwise desolate carpet of scorched earth.
A sign, they hope, they pray, that the deck isn’t stacked, the game isn’t rigged, the jig isn’t already up.
“Didn’t matter how it went in,’’ said winger David Jones, reflectively, a day and a half later, “as long as it went in.
“People can say what they want. Good goal, bad goal. We’re not complaining.
“At the end of the day, we needed that win. Real bad. We made it interesting, letting a two- goal lead slip in the third period.
“But to get the two points, however, is a real relief.”
Amazing the difference in the atmosphere after a win. One win. A single win. But hey, when you’ve only got three to your name, each must seem more precious than a 1909 Honus Wagner card in mint condition.
“Changes everything, moodwise,’’ agreed Jones, as the Calgary Flames packed up to hustle off to Denver for Tuesday’s encounter against the Avs, themselves in the process of some serious self- examination. “Look at the guys today. Everything’s a bit lighter. Everybody’s feeling a bit better about things. The smiles are back. Guys are more relaxed. “One goal changes that. “Mistakes are going to happen. We got our share of them last year, but is nice to see some bounces going our way again. And that goal was a nice bounce.’’
And how. And yes, THAT goal, the one with 8.7 seconds remaining Saturday at a Rexall Place — Oilers’ goalie Cam Talbot tucked not- tightly- enough against the near post, reached back, groping around like a guy who’d dropped his car keys in the dark — the puck having been shot out of the corner, actually from behind the goal- line plane, by Michael Frolik.
The shot/ pass/ Willie Mosconi trick shot dropping down and skipping in past Talbot to complete the Czech winger’s first career hat trick.
And, more vitally, provide the Flames with their first piece of candy in five starts, 5- 4.
Now one goal, however dramatic — and a real howler, at that — doesn’t remotely begin to fix the lengthy laundry list of sins plaguing these Flames at the moment. ( An astounding lack of defensive lucidity. Iffy goaltending. Etc., etc., etc.)
What it does do, though, is, at least temporarily, stop the backward slide, cauterize the bleeding.
Imagine if they’d gone on to lose in 3- on- 3 or a shootout Saturday, blowing a two- goal advantage only 20 minutes from the end in the process?
Given the opponent and circumstances, they could’ve easily sunk without a trace.
“Obviously,’’ said Frolik on Monday, “it was big for us. When you win a game late, it gives you confidence and hockey is all about confidence. We were a little bit down and hopefully it’ll help us build the same kind of effort the next game, in Colorado.
“I mean, those things happen. Yeah, it was lucky goal. But you wanna try it.’’
Hey, they aren’t all going to be Mario Lemieux, sails a- billow, coast- to- coast mindblowers. If it’s wall- to- wall masterpieces you’re after, try the National Gallery in London or the Uffizi in Florence.
“Actually, it was a great play by him,’’ praised Jones, nodding over at Frolik. “He knew exactly what he was doing. Granted, that doesn’t go in, uh, all that often. But he had the presence of mind to try it, knowing the time left.”
“And it couldn’t have come at a better time.”
Hand for an oath on a Gideon bible, that is the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
“It was good,” said coach Bob Hartley, “to see our guys rewarded. Whether it’s a good goal or a bad goal, we take them all. And it was late. Remember the Winnipeg game?”
Hartley was harkening back to Oct. 16 at the MTS Centre, and Dustin Byfuglien stuffing a wideangle shot past a tap dancing Karri Ramo at 18: 32 of the third period — another bizarre goal — to deny the Flames at least a point.
“That,” Hartley went on, “left a real sour taste in our mouth. So that one ( Saturday) was like the hockey gods’ payback.
“I’ve seen quite a few like this in my career. You get momentum swings. That could be one.
“The guys were jumping today. It was fun in the locker- room. This game has to be fun.
“We need to build. We need to build. Karri ( Ramo)’ s getting a second start. We had a good day off. A good practice today.
“Let’s go to Colorado and get a big road win.”
Chances are the Frolik hat trick goal on Saturday was nothing more than a blooper- reel oneoff, not some cosmic omen of a seismic shift in the tides.
Still, when you’re in the midst of free fall, any hand extended is welcome.
“We’re not kidding ourselves,” said Jones. “We’ve got a long way to go to climb out of this hole we’ve created for ourselves.
“It isn’t going to happen all at once, overnight. But in order to do it, you need to start somewhere. You need a beginning.
“Hopefully that goal is our beginning.”