Controlling the Alley – Flames batter dripping Oilers

“No one in that room is happy with what’s been going on. You had to expect there’d be some fireworks out there tonight. And there was.” – coach Brent Sutter

If a novice spectator stumbled into Rexall Place on Monday night, he could be forgiven for expecting that the surface of the arena was actually a canvas-colored mat instead of an ice-covered rink and the surrounding perimeters were cordoned with boxing ring ropes, not panes of plexi-glass.  When Rodney Dangerfield once quipped, “I went to a boxing match last night and a hockey game broke out”, he could have been referencing last nights tussle-tossed slugfest between Calgary and Edmonton.

After playing Santa for the Vancouver Canucks, the Calgary Flames were decidedly Scrooge-like in the way the treated the dripping Edmonton Oilers on Monday evening. Playing with a caustic edge, the Flames were pugnacious, ornery, bitter and angry as they pounded out a convincing 4-1 victory over their sagging provincial rivals.

Rene Bourque was the offensive hero for the flickering Flames, notching a natural hat-trick in helping his club put the brakes on a three game losing skid. Bourque lit the lamp in all three periods in three distinct ways.

The Lac la Biche, Alberta native fired home an equal strength marker to tie the score at 1-1 late in the opening frame, connected for a powerplay goal midway through the middle stanza and completed the trifecta with a shorthanded tally early in the final frame.

After surrendering an early goal to the Oilers, the Flames rolled up their sleeves, dropped their gloves and put a physical pounding on their dreary rivals. For the first time in what seems like forever, the Flames played with emotion and energy, controlling the neutral zone, battering any opponent that dared skate into Miikka Kiprusoff’s kitchen and winning the battle of the boards.

When challenged, the Flames were all too eager to slap leather, drop their guns and engage in a close encounter of the fisted kind. Dustin Boyd, Jarome Iginla, Robyn Regehr and Aaron Johnson all went toe-to-toe with an Oiler adversary, and scored well on the scorecards of the rink side adjudicators.

Kipper the keeper returned to form after an embarrassing performance the previous evening, blocking 34 of the 35 pucks directed his way, including 15 key saves in the opening 20 minutes when the Oilers held the upper hand.

Calgary returns home for a meeting with the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday before a return encounter with the Oilers on Thursday.