Perry holds off Weir
Kenny Perry closed with a 3-under 69 to win the Memorial with Mike Weir finishing second
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LaBarbera makes winning debutFormer Kings goaltender has 31 saves as Canucks edge Predators in Nashville Full text |
Kenny Perry closed with a 3-under 69 to win the Memorial with Mike Weir finishing second
Head coach John Carver cautions that there is no room for egos in the locker room
On the men's side, Djokovic and Nadal both advanced while Nestor and his partner Zimonjic reached the doubles quarter-finals
Missing out on the top pick in 2007 draft turned out to be the best thing that could have happened
Evgeni Malkin has been nowhere when the Penguins most need him
CALGARY — Ron Wilson knew what was smouldering inside the Calgary Flames' dressing room well before the puck dropped at Pengrowth Saddledome last night.
Calgary had lost four of its past five games; its most recent defeat was a 6-1 drubbing by the Chicago Blackhawks. The Flames were smarting. The Toronto Maple Leafs' head coach knew it. But neither prophecy nor an early lead was enough to prevent the Maple Leafs from being singed 4-3 last night in the first of a three-game swing through Western Canada.
For the Flames, it was a solid outing led by Dustin Boyd, who had two goals, captain Jarome Iginla, who had a goal and an assist, and defenceman Dion Phaneuf, who had a goal and an assist even though there was some doubt he would play after taking a high stick near his left eye in the loss to Chicago.
For the Maple Leafs, it was a lacking performance in a number of areas, some of them more serious than others. There were glaring puck-handling miscues by defencemen Luke Schenn and Jeff Finger. There weren't enough second shots on Calgary goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff. The penalty killing wasn't great, either.
Calgary Flames captain Jarome Iginla and Todd Bertuzzi celebrate Iginla's goal in front of Toronto Maple Leafs' Jeff Finger during the first period Tueday in Calgary. The Flames won 4-3. (Todd Korol/Reuters)
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Highlights from Tuesday's game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Calgary Flames
Toronto had the 30th-ranked penalty killing unit in the NHL and gave up a critical goal by Iginla, who snuck in from the side during the first period and tapped a rebound past Maple Leafs goalie Vesa Toskala to make the score 2-1.
"With Jarome, you have to know where he is all the time, with all those pop-up plays," Wilson had noted before the game. "And Phaneuf has one of the hardest shots in the league so we've got to be in shooting lanes. That's the most important thing."
The Maple Leafs got an early lead last night (on a power play goal by Alexei Ponikarovsky) but weren't able to do enough after that. Their most effective line was Nikolai Kulemin, Mikhail Grabovski and Niklas Hagman, who was the best player in blue and white.
Hagman signing as a free agent this past summer didn't create the biggest buzz in Toronto. It wasn't like he was Mats Sundin pulling himself from the depths of indecision. It wasn't even as if he was Jason Blake and coming to the Maple Leafs off a 40-goal season.
Instead, Hagman was a solid pro coming off a lousy playoff showing with the Dallas Stars. Although he had scored 27 times in the regular season, Hagman all but disappeared in the postseason. The reason for that had to do with his lack of ice time.
"In the playoffs, they put me on the fourth line," Hagman said before the game.
"I didn't play on the power play. I barely played on penalty killing and it was a little bit of a sour note. I knew they were going to go with new, younger players. That made [leaving Dallas] a little easier."
Adding Hagman has made things a little easier for Toronto, which remains very much a .500 team capable of winning games it shouldn't and losing games it should win.
Leading 1-0 against Calgary, Toronto lost its momentum on a flub by Schenn. The Leafs' rookie misplayed the puck allowing Todd Bertuzzi to skate in and set up an incoming Boyd, who beat Toskala in goal.
Thirty-eight seconds later, Jamal Mayers was called for interference, giving Calgary its first power play of the night and the opportunity for Iginla, who made it 2-1.
Phaneuf then scored and played a physical, edgy game after the swelling in his eye subsided enough for him to see. Boyd, playing on the top line, added his second to complete the scoring for Calgary. Nik Antropov, on a power-play deflection, scored Toronto's second goal of the evening with Matt Stajan drawing credit for the third goal when the puck went into the Calgary net off a faceoff deep in the Flames' zone.
Flames defenceman Cory Sarich was hit into the boards by Ponikarovsky early in the third period and headed straight to the dressing room. He returned later in the period, which was a relief for Calgary, which lost defenceman Jim Vandermeer to a broken ankle against Chicago.
The Maple Leafs play the Oilers in Edmonton tomorrow night before travelling to Vancouver to face the Canucks. Calgary heads to San Jose to play the Sharks tomorrow.