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Sunday, October 3, 1999
Fuhr chased!
San Jose shoots Calgary's last line of defence full of holes
Whether Brian Sutter was trying to play humanitarian and save his goalie an even more embarrassing evening or he held out hope that a switch in net might change the relentless teal tide, the sight of Grant Fuhr being pulled with over half a game left last night was nonetheless jarring.
To no one more so than Fuhr.
"We're down 4-0. Obviously, I didn't do what I was supposed to do," said Fuhr. "If I could, I'd play again tomorrow. It's certainly not the way I wanted to start here."
As opening acts go, this one needs, uh, just a little polishing. The Flames were mugged 5-3 at the Tank last night, manhandled physically and, despite the shots on goal, shredded defensively.
Outside of Cory Stillman's goal and assist, there wasn't much positive to draw on.
Two Shark goals were clearly Fuhr's fault -- a miscommunication on a dump off the boards on San Jose's second and an awkward mis-kick on the third, Mike Rathje pounding one past him on the short side from the point.
"I kicked it when I should have shot it," said Fuhr of the third goal. "It was not a very good play on my part. I've got to do better."
Still, Fuhr might as well have contacted leprosy for all the friends he seemed to have. Geez, the Flames treated the guy better when he wore that damn ugly oil drop on his chest.
"We gave up odd-man rushes on (their first) four goals," Sutter lamented.
For the record, the five-time Stanley Cup winner's regular-season debut as a Flame lasted 26 minutes, 35 seconds, 16 shots, at least a dozen near misses, and four goals against.
The one that got him chased was a bang, bang passout to Owen Nolan that a combination of Jacques Plante, Glenn Hall and Terry Sawchuk couldn't have stopped.
Not exactly the kind of start a team needing a pole vault to reach mediocrity would draw up on the old chalk board.
The Sharks, at least, understand the importance of charging out of the gate fast.
"A good start is imperative," insisted San Jose goalie Mike Vernon. "You ask the Denver Broncos if a good start is important."
Forget the start, it was the middle Sutter wasn't too crazy about.
"Outside of 10 minutes in the second period, I thought we played well," Sutter declared. "It was the best game we've had here in three years.
"We created enough chances to win nine hockey games."
The Flames had been holding their own, sparring quite slickly, in fact, until Rene Corbet took a tripping minor for upending Alex Korolyuk.
Then the whole thing unravelled like a ball of twine being batted about by a cat.
The Corbet penalty allowed the former Calgary Hitman, Brad Stuart, to show off a little of the stardust that'll one day make him an all-star in this league.
Spinning to keep the puck in at the line on the powerplay, he whisked a pass to Jeff Friesen, near the left side of the Flame net.
In three quick steps Friesen was almost around the cage, and spotted Stuart sneaking in from the opposite side he'd made the original pass.
Stuart banked the puck in off Fuhr, totally stretched out across the face of the crease, for his first NHL goal, at 17:17.
A tip-off of the unspeakable terrors to follow.
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