Opening Night Jitters for the Flames

Calgary, Alberta -- October 11, 2008: Two back to back losses to Vancouver. The opener on Thursday in Vancouver was painful for not only Flames' fans, but most hockey fans to watch. The Canucks more than handily took a 6-0 win and used it for leverage coming into tonight's game at home. The Canucks opened the scoring, then tied the game twice to force an overtime. The game finished 5-4 in favor for the Canucks.

Normally, when Flames' captain Jarome Iginla engages in an all out brawl with the visiting team's tough guy, his club takes the lead and keeps it. He took on Willie Mitchell at 10:24 in the first when his team was up 3-1...until Vancouver scored two unanswered goals.

The game was a nice introduction to the Canucks for guys like Darcy Hordichuk (who played in Nashville last season) and new assistant coach Ryan Walter. Former Wild, Pavol Demitra scored the winning goal in overtime.

On the other side of the rink, Miikka Kiprusoff's GA avg is 5.5. So couple that with some of the wondering thoughts from last year: is it time to find another goalie? Has Kiprusoff worn out his expiry date? And...if you really think about it, like the complaint about Roman Turek years before, it sort of appears that since signing the big contract is when his consistency went down hill.

Bright notes for Calgary are newcomers Mike Cammalleri and Todd Bertuzzi. Even when they don't factor on the scoreboard, they have shown some things on the ice that offer encouragement. And the two did score in this game. But with all the bolstering up front, it's still the net that is in question.