Game of the Night

@

It was a wild night in T-Bay as the Calgary Flames scored nine times en route to a spectacular 9-6 victory.

You know when a game has a 4-3 score after one period you're in for some exciting hockey. The last two periods did not disappoint, with 3 more goals scored in the second period (tying the game at 5) and another 5 goals in the third period.

Huselius impressed with a 5 point night consisting of a hat-trick and a pair of assists, and finished +5 on the night. Iginla potted 3 of his own and assisted on another. Young superstar Dion Phaneuf was credited with 5 assists. Goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff was very mediocre, letting in 6 goals on 31 shots.

On Tampa's end, the first line did all the work, as is expected. Marty St. Louis scored twice and added a helper, while Lecavalier and Prospal each scored and added two assists. Defencemen Paul Ranger and Philip Kuba were an awful -5 on the night. Holmqvist was pulled for the second time in as many starts (the first being December 10th in Toronto, a 6-1 thumping) after letting in 4 goals on 6 shots. Denis finished the game and as you can guess, let in 5 more. Head Coach John Tortorella will probably have to flip a coin to decide who starts next game.

I've never liked the design of the Tampa Bay Lightning. The "Big 3" approach doesn't strike me as a viable one in this league. The Lightning have scored 99 goals, and the top line of Lecavalier, St. Louis and Prospal are responsible for 47 of them, nearly half. And if you're bent on making it work, you damn well better have a keeper who can bail you out. I don't think either Holmqvist or Denis are capable of that at this point. Heck, I'm not convinced either is capable of any kind of consistency right now.