Red Hot flames burn Flyers

The Calgary Flames acquired Olli Jokinen from the Los Angeles Kings at the NHL trade deadline to help bolster their offense.  He paid immediate dividends in his first game with his new team, scoring two goals to help the Flames defeat the Philadelphia Flyers 5-1 at the Wachovia Center on Thursday night.  The Flames are 9-1-2 in their last 12 games and with the victory increased their lead in the Northwest Division to a full 10 points over second place Vancouver.

It was ‘shock and awe’ for Calgary from the opening faceoff, as the Flames ignited for four first period goals to go to the locker room at the break up 4-0.  In addition to Jokinen’s two goals in the period, Calgary’s Michael Cammalleri and Jordan Leopold tallied in the frame.  After a scoreless second period, the two teams traded goals in the third with Mike Knuble scoring for the Flyers and Craig Conroy answering for the Flames.  After the game, Jokinen talked about his first game in the red, white and yellow centering Calgary’s top line between Michael Cammalleri and Jarome Iginla:

"Playing with great players, I just wanted to keep it simple and fit in. It's easy to play with them. It was a lot of fun. They were talking a lot, letting me know where they are."

The Flyers, on the other hand, didn’t have much fun at all.  Philly coach John Stevens provided this grave assessment of the team’s performance:

"It sure looked like we didn't have any energy there tonight. It was an old-fashioned butt-whipping there, that's what that was. I don't have an answer for you at this point. It was just an awful effort by our hockey team, right through our lineup."

Making matters worse, Daniel Briere left the game after re-aggravating a groin injury that has already cost him 51 games this season.  Briere will have his injury evaluated on Friday but the prognosis doesn’t look particularly good according to Flyers’ GM Paul Holmgren:

"He's having a tough time right now as much mentally as physically.”

Calgary will try to stay in top form during an extended East Coast road swing that will take them to Carolina on Friday night and Atlanta on Sunday afternoon.  They’ll face arguably the hottest team in the NHL on Tuesday as they pay a visit to the Meadowlands Arena for a game against the New Jersey Devils.  The Flyers will play their next three games at home, hosting Nashville on Saturday, Buffalo on Tuesday and Washington on Thursday.