Flame Out in Edmonton

Another rough chapter was written in the epic that is The Battle of Alberta last night.

The Flames went into Edmonton looking to put a little padding between them and the eighth seed in the Western Conference, but weren’t able to put the puck in the net all night.

Edmonton skated away with a shutout, and a morale boost after beating their rivals 5-0, along with being willing to drop the gloves throughout the game.

Ethan Moreau started things off early, going after Dion Phaneuf for attempting a hard hit on rookie Andrew Cogliano.  Moreau easily got the jump on Phaneuf, but never got past the visor before falling to the ice.

Zack Stortini then had a couple of fights.  The first was with Cory Sarich in the second period, mostly a wrestling affair.  Stortini’s second bout was with Robyn Regehr. These two went at it off the starting faceoff in the third period.

About seven minutes into the third, Eric Godard went looking for a dance partner, punching Tom Gilbert, then giving a shot or two to Oilers goaltender Mathieu Garon, before the linesmen could restrain him.  The scrum led to Sarich and Curtis Glencross exchanging blows.  Unlike his fight with Stortini, Sarich was able to let the punches fly in this one.  Glencross, in his first game with the Oilers, grabbed the attention of his new teammates.

Curtis Joseph skated down the ice, but Garon wasn’t interested:

“I don’t think there is any point in fighting the other goalie,” Garon said. “The last year the same thing happened and we didn’t fight then either.”

From Oilers coach Craig MacTavish:

“It’s maybe a strange tactic for a team like Calgary that depends so heavily on (Miikka Kiprusoff) to be targeting the opposition’s goaltender,” he said. “Those kinds of things have a way of coming back at you.”

Now might be a good time to bring up the fact that these two teams meet again this Saturday.

Godard picked up his third game misconduct.  The penalty will carry an automatic one-game suspension.  Flames coach Mike Kennan distanced himself from Godard’s actions:

“It was a very undisciplined play that will cost him in the end because he’s going to be suspended, that’s his third game misconduct and he probably knows that so I have no idea why he acted the way he did,” he said. “It’s certainly not condoned by our coaching staff and our team.”

Keeping the instigator

Via Alanah over at KK, SI’s Darren Eliot writes about the players who can agitate without crossing the line, and suggests longer suspensions, not a repeal of the instigator rule, can help decrease the number of dirty hits.

McCarty’s AHL deal official

From Ansar Khan:

Former Wing Darren McCarty has officially joined the Grand Rapids Griffins after signing a 25-game pro tryout contract. He was scheduled to practice with the team this morning and make his Griffins debut Friday in Cleveland.

Videos added

Cory Sarich vs Curtis Glencross Feb 4, 2008
Eric Godard vs Mathieu Garon Feb 4, 2008
(two above clips are the same)
Robyn Regehr vs Zack Stortini Feb 4, 2008
Cory Sarich vs Zack Stortini Feb 4, 2008
Dion Phaneuf vs Ethan Moreau Feb 4, 2008
Ryan Malone vs David Clarkson Feb 4, 2008

Some reads

Enforcers fight to keep place in game
Glass punches up Panthers’ intensity
Pens’ Laraque critical of overseas opener
Rangers’ Avery at his best as a pest
Dallas Stars’ Ribeiro gets physical
Sharks pleased with Shelley’s debut