[calgARI]

I actually can't believe what just happened. That was incredibly an entertaining hockey game between two teams that never do anything interesting playing one another. Just a glorious win and I honestly gave them zero chance once they went down 4-3 but give them credit for fighting hard the last few minutes and surprisingly Phoenix with a bunch of breakdowns and Smith was way way off his game.

Thrilled with the win but the way they came out in the third and were totally dominated by that team is simply unacceptable. Phoenix was thoroughly outworking and outplaying Calgary for the first 15 minutes of the period where the Flames basically never touched the puck.

Lots of credit to Iginla who has been playing well for 3-4 games and finally gets some reward.

Thought Cammalleri played very well though I just cannot believe he and Comeau are both playing center for this team.

Through 40 minutes I was really impressed with how good the Flames were defensively but they totally collapsed in the third period. MacDonald deserves a ton of credit because the Flames did zero in the defensive zone even after it was 4-3, but he came up huge on several great opportunities.

The Flames are almost back to full strength offensively so they are scoring goals which is great. Iginla is getting going which is obviously key. If the GM would actually do his job and find NHL centers this team could be pretty decent. Not sure how that will happen but I am in total amazement how he hasn't done anything yet while two wingers take regular shifts at center. I keep saying it over and over again but my shock is not wearing off.

I said it last night after the win but it is something to be optimistic about that these guys are 7-7-3 despite having very few contributions from their two best players. If they can actually put everything together and stay healthy, they will at least contend for a playoff spot.