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Sunday, October 31, 1999
Least in the East
Well, it's been the Calgary Flames who have been left frozen in the dark here for a long time.
Toronto has become a wasteland for the Flames in recent years and that trend continued last night in the Leafs 2-1 win.
That's 10 wins in a row over Calgary at home for the Leafs - the last Flames win was in 1994.
Toronto has also won nine straight over the Flames dating back to 1997.
Val Bure's third period goal brought the Flames close, but they were unable to duplicate the late-game heroics from their last game win over Ottawa.
The Flames were outclassed from the opening drop of the puck, but for a change on this road trip it wasn't because they had spent much of the first period in the penalty box.
But it was a stupid Calgary penalty which led to the Leafs opening goal.
With Derek Morris already in the penalty box for a minor, defenceman Cale Hulse wound up and slashed Leafs forward Sergei Berezin so hard it echoed off the rafters of the Air Canada Centre.
Referee Don Koharski called it on volume alone, and the Leafs didn't waste their two-man powerplay.
After making a couple of great saves, Flames goalie Grant Fuhr tipped the puck out of the crease area, but right onto the stick of Bryan Berard moving in from the point. Fuhr had little chance on Berard's slapshot.
But trailing by just one goal after being outshot 15-6, the Flames knew they had come back from worse in their previous game, an overtime win in Ottawa.
But there was to be no miracle comeback last night.
Just a couple minutes into the second period, Leafs veteran Gary Valk outworked rookie Robyn Regehr for a loose puck in the Calgary zone, allowing Berezin to fire a centering pass to an unchecked Igor Korolev who beat Fuhr with a low shot.
Calgary had its chances in the second period, outshooting the Leafs 14-6, but Curtis Joseph was again perfect.
It took until the halfway mark of the third period for the Flames to spoil the Leafs incredible shutout streak at 210 minutes and 49 seconds.
Bure set up behind the net, a la Gretzky, spun out front and fired a high shot over Joseph's glove to get the Flames right back into the game.
The Flames can take some consolation from the way they battled back in this game, even though it did not produce points.
"We take a lot of confidence from this -- you knew we were one shot away from it," coach Brian Sutter said. "We played too fancy in the first period and that's what got us in trouble."
"We've got nothing to be ashamed of for how we played on this road trip."
Fuhr again did his job, holding the Flames in a game in which they were outclassed early.
"I think we are getting better, but we are not quite over the hump yet," the classy goalkeeper said.
"I don't think we realize how good we can be. If you watched the last two periods of our games, when guys have confidence, we can play with just about anybody. The problem is that we take time to get going," Fuhr said.
Toronto has proved almost invincible at home this season -- their previous three wins have all been shutouts two by Joseph.
A win could have salvaged an enigmatic road trip for the Flames, who won two games against teams they were expected to lose to, but lost two against the two weakest clubs in the league in Atlanta and Tampa.
But still, a win last night could have put them at 3-3 for the trip, an accomplishment to be proud of despite the bad losses.
Instead, the Flames return home, where they have been dreadful.
They host Nashville Wednesday before getting visits from Florida, sizzling San Jose and Colorado.
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