Starting slow seems like a perennial problem for my favorite team. This year appears to be no different.
After a pair of fairly brutal games against the canucks, the flames finally got their first win of the campaign against a rather hapless looking Avalanche team. This despite (again) giving up a 3-1 lead. I’m finding myself increasingly puzzled with this annual event, and honestly I really, really, hope we can do without it next year.
Team captain Jarome Iginla finally got on the score sheet, but Kiprusoff continued his very spotty play. I still maintain that Kipper can come back and dominate the league again, but if his october slide turns into another year long problem it may be time to look for a replacement. Sadly none of our young goalies are ready to step into the role (though we may have an embarassment of riches in a few years), so a solid aging vet (for a year or two) might be the answer.
Regardless of the slow start, and hey you never know, it might get Keenan fired, the flames will be a force this year. Bertuzzi has been a really pleasant surprise (though hopefully the phantom roughing/boarding calls will stop, how that dive at the end of the canucks game was called a penalty is beyond me) and the rest of the team appears to be showing some heart and grit and (dear god) secondary scoring (5 goals in game 2 with zero points from iginla???). If the defense can step up a bit and Kipper can stop looking like Dan Ellis we might just have a team here.