Great game tonight in the sixth tilt of the Flames/Sharks first-round series. There is a steady momentum being established during these past few games. Despite the end-results of games 4 and 5, the Flames were generally the better team for most of the game, with the Sharks capitalizing on mistakes more than generating chances of their own, and the boys from Cowtown rode their increasingly confident play to the end in tonight's big 2-0 victory over San Jose.
A few notes:
- Is the officiating in all the other series just as bad as what I've been witnessing? Atrocious is not a strong enough word to describe the performance of all on-ice officials. From phantom calls, inconsistent rulings, failures to stop play on covered pucks, blown icings, sketchy off-sides --- I am no longer getting outraged by the antics of the Four Blind Mice, but rather am more shocked between those rare intervals when bad calls do not occur. In a seven game series, a team will win or lose on its own merit, despite the blown rulings; however, there have been times this series when the officiating has had an affect on the game, and that is completely unacceptable.
- Kipper scored his first shut-out of the series, in what was perhaps his easiest performance. It isn't a revelation to know that a very good goaltender can rack up terrific numbers when he has a team playing defense in front of him. If they can keep this up, the Flames have a better-than-even chance of moving on.
- The Juice is loose: Kristian Huselius has found his game again. Despite a poor, offensive-zone penalty in the second period, he put in far and away his best performance of the playoffs, including putting in a shift on the power-play for the first time in the post-season. To say that the Flames could really use some more production from their second-leading scorer in the regular season is an understatement. His emergence has added a second dimension to the Flames attack.
- It is far too early to talk about the Conn Smythe Trophy yet (though Preds tender Dan Ellis deserves a mention), but Jarome Iginla, who had just finished the best season of his career, is taking charge of his team reminiscent of the 2004 run. He is the best player in the league right now, and he is a leader on par with Messier, Yzerman, and the rest.
