Flames playing spoilers
Dent Canucks’ President’s chase
Michael Cammalleri made his feelings perfectly clear on the subject of playing spoilers in Game 81 of the Calgary Flames season.
His club seemed to relish the role, however, in a 3-2 victory Thursday over the visiting Vancouver canucks who are in a dogfight with the New York Rangers and St. Louis Blues for the President’s Trophy heading toward the finish line of the 2011-12 NHL season.
“To be completely honest with you, I could really care less,” scoffed Cammalleri, who scored twice in a stellar third period effort by the home boys. “I don’t think they’re concerned about us as we think they might be.
“For us, we just need to be worried about our team and getting a feeling of playing better hockey and playing better for next season.”
On the outside, the game was seemingly meaningless as Calgary continues to lament and dissect yet another season out of the NHL playoff race.
And for almost two periods, it seemed that way.
Vancouver set the tone and managed to hit the scoreboard first when Alex Burrows lazily backhanded a short-handed marker past Miikka Kiprusoff less than five minutes in.
The large contingent of blue, green, and white jerseys in the Scotiabank Saddledome erupted while frustrated flames fans rolled their eyes.
But things started heating up. Behind 1-0 heading into the third period, the Flames bounced back and scored three times, giving their home crowd something to cheer about.
“I think it was a good third period,” said Curtis Glencross, who beat Corey Schneider on a wicked glove-side wrister near the midway mark of the final frame for the eventual game winner. “Down a goal, we battled back. It’s good to see. We wanted to be out there, and we wanted to play good in front of the fans here for the last couple of games. So it was good for us.”
Calgary’s penalty killers were also called into action late in the game and gave their crowd something to cheer about.
After Vancouver’s Jannik Hansen scored with less than four minutes remaining — and 26 seconds after Cammalleri’s second marker — they were forced to kill off Blake Comeau’s tripping penalty in the final minutes.
Also, they were forced to withstand Vancouver villain Maxim Lapierre, who had choice words with nearly everyone on the ice in a red jersey. He also infuriated with chirps towards Calgary head coach Brent Sutter on the Flames bench.
“It’s kind of one of those respect things,” Glencross said. “He’s standing there chirping our coach. Chirp someone who is playing on the ice or one of the players or something.”
“It’s a little different to be standing on the ice, and be vocal and start chirping at our coach . . . it’s just kind of a class thing,” Glencross added.
After being outshot 12-3 in the first period, the Flames were much improved and played physical in the middle frame.
Early on, Lance Bouma fed Tom Kostopoulos on a splendid rush but, frustratingly, the journeyman winger — an unrestricted free agent at season’s end — clanged Schneider’s left post. More bad luck ensued a few minutes later when Henrik Sedin was tagged for hooking and Vancouver’s Chris Higgins beat the defensive tandem of Jay Bouwmeester and Blair Jones on a breakaway, but his attempt went wide.
Frustrations mounted and the Flames began to take penalties. Near the end of the second period, Jarome Iginla policed Ryan Kesler, who had delivered a hard hit to an unsuspecting Cory Sarich.
“We didn’t like our first period,” Cammalleri said. “Regardless of the implications in the standings — or lack thereof, I should say — we were kind of upset with the way we were playing. Not just as players, coaching staff included. It was nice to play better as the game went on.”
Another bright side to Thursday’s game was the NHL debut of Akim Aliu.
With david moss and alex tanguay sidelined, the 22-year-old Nigerianborn call-up showcased his wheels and battled hard on the right wing alongside Stajan and Cammalleri.
As a checker with the Abbotsford Heat, Aliu led the Flames in hits (4) recorded his first NHL point — a slick pass to Jay Bouwmeester which allowed Cammalleri to score — and his first penalty, logging just over 10 minutes of ice time.
“That’s my game,” Aliu said. “Trying to protect pucks along the wall and making plays. I had a lot of fun. I want to come into camp and work for a spot next year.”