If there was ever one team to help the Calgary Flames out of their most recent funk (one victory, in a shootout, in their last five games) during their season, the Minnesota Wild, blessed with the great goaltending of one Jose Theodore, was it.
To be honest, the 10-12-2 Flames' season thus far has really seemed like one big downward slope with a few forgettable peaks interspersed throughout, a little too coincidentally like Death Valley. In any case, two quick goals, by Jarome Iginla and Jay Bouwmeester, helped to pace the Flames to their victory, a 3-0 shutout by Miikka Kiprusoff over Minnesota on Monday. Alex Tanguay was the only Flame to earn points on each of the goals, which were scored 18 seconds apart, marking a new personal record for him. He previously could only play consistently well for spurts of five seconds at a time at most. Good for him.
The team record for the two fastest goals is actually four seconds, with Doug Gilmour and Paul Ranheim scoring four seconds apart (tying an NHL record) on October 17, 1989. Unfortunately for the Flames, after their Stanley Cup victory the spring before, it's been mostly downhill for the franchise overall, with a brief respite over the last few years, with the team becoming a legitimate contender only to miss their window of opportunity Thankfully for the Flames, Theodore seems to be servicing teams 24/7 through his, which has seen more customers than a Tim Hortons drive thru over the years.
Even the team's leading goal scorer, Cal Clutterbuck (I am not making this up, he has seven goals to lead the Wild), could not get anything going with one of his classic hard bodychecks.
Thankfully, the Wild get a chance to redeem themselves on Friday, at which point it's safe to assume the Flames will be mired in yet another losing streak.
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