Calgary Flames light a fire under Phoenix Coyotes to claim pre-season victory
It’s often said that when some fires start, they are difficult to put out. Tuesday night’s pre-season game between the Calgary Flames and the Phoenix Coyotes featured lots of action that
led to a 3-1 victory for the Flames.
Calgary got the fire started 17 seconds into the first period when captain Jarome Iginla put the puck past Phoenix goaltender Jason LaBarbera on a rebound. New acquisition Olli Jokinen
began the play with a shot on net that was saved by LaBarbera. However, despite his strong play, Jokinen would leave the game later on with a minor undisclosed injury.
The game-winning goal was scored by Niklas Hagman during the second period. Hagman would go on to make a great pass to defenceman T.J. Brodie, one of several Flames rookies who participated
in this game. Brodie immediately capitalized on the golden opportunity, scoring an insurance tally in the third frame. The goal was Brodie’s third in two pre-season games.
“The bounces have been going the right way, like tonight on the goal,” said Brodie of his goal. “I didn't really pay attention at first. I was pretty excited. [Flames goaltender] Leland
Irving told me on the bench it looked like it went in the side of the net. During the season, that wouldn't happen because of video replay.”
Shane Doan, the Coyotes captain, scored his team’s only goal. He said that the Flames’ victory was the result of many lucky bounces that went their way.
“They got a bit of a lucky bounce where the guy takes a shot and it gets away,” Doan said of the Flames’ first goal of the evening. “To give that one that early, it gives them energy and
it gives them some emotion. You try to get back into it, but it wasn't a very good game for us for the whole 60 minutes. We weren't very good.”
Coyotes head coach Dave Tippett also chimed in with his analysis of the Flames’ third goal, but also admitted that his team didn’t live up to their expectations in the game.
“The third goal they got went through the side of the net, so that's one of the things to deal with right now,” Tippett said. “I'm more worried about how we played. Our goaltender played
fine, but we need to raise our compete level. They played a hard game and we didn't play as hard as them, simple as that.”
Henrik Karlsson turned in a solid performance with 19 saves for Calgary. Phoneix counterpart LaBarbera made 24 saves to pick up the loss.
The Flames are currently undefeated at 4-0 in pre-season action. Phonenix holds a 4-2 record, and their next pre-season game will be played in Riga, Latvia against the Dinamo Riga team
on 6 October. Calgary resumes their exhibition schedule on Wednesday with a game against the New York Islanders.
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