Ah shoot. It was a tough one. The Flames had a run of bad luck, bad bounces, bad calls and bad legs, falling to San Jose in an exciting -- but ultimately doomed -- series finale, 5-3.
Notes about the game:
- The Jim Vandemeer experiment was a nice idea, and it didn't hurt in game 6, but the guy is a great defenseman and a slow, slow winger, and Keenan should have put him on the blueline the first time Anders Eriksson made a bad pinch. Or the second time. Or the third time ...
- The refs had an affect again. Why the hell they would call an interference penalty on Conroy when he was taking the man with the puck in front of the net is beyond me, but that penalty resulted in a game-tying PP goal which led to the Sharks' 4-goal second period. I've said it before, the refs don't lose games for you, but they can have an affect on the outcome, and that's unconscionable.
- Just to show I'm not completely partisan on this, even more egregious was the high sticking call on Rissmiller, who was 15 feet away from Daymond Langkow when the Flames centre was hit in the head by Jim Vandemeer. However, by this time the result of the game was no longer in doubt.
- Yes, I know Kiprusoff had 30 shots by the midpoint of the game, but he was letting bad rebounds out, resulting in more shots than necessary, and he let in a really bad goal at an even worse time. His head needs work, stat.
- Roenick? Jeremy Roenick? 4 points? Jeez.
- Where was Iginla? He played well, but his hands were tied too often.
As for coaching, I thought Ron Wilson had a brain fart when he kept Devin Setogucci out of the lineup for the first few games, but at least he came to his senses. Tonight, he earned his paycheque, however. The team was in trouble but he seemed to keep them composed throughout, and they did him proud.
Boo.
