On a night that saw questionable goaltending and defensive efforts from both teams, the Calgary Flames managed to hold off a late game onslaught to defeat the visiting Carolina Hurricanes 7-6 on Tuesday night. After being a healthy scratch for the past five games, Brendan Morrison made his triumphant return to the line up as he notched two goals, and two assists on the night.

PHOTO CREDIT - CalgaryFlames.com

Calgary - December 7, 2011 - On a night that saw questionable goaltending and defensive efforts from both teams, the Calgary Flames managed to hold off a late game onslaught to defeat the visiting Carolina Hurricanes 7-6 on Tuesday night. After being a healthy scratch for the past five games, Brendan Morrison made his triumphant return to the line up as he notched two goals, and two assists on the night.

It did not take long for Calgary to open the scoring on the evening, as just three minutes into the first frame Jarome Iginla notched his 9th goal of the season after receiving a beautiful pass from behind the net from Olli Jokinen. After throwing ten shots on net in the first five minutes of the game, Calgary began to chase the puck as Carolina made a charge back to try and even the score before heading into the dressing room. However just a minute before the time expired, Blake Comeau wacked the puck out from underneath Hurricanes goaltender Cam Ward and onto the stick off Lee Stempniak for an easy one time goal to put the good guys up by two.

Calgary began right where they left off in the first period when Brendan Morrison recovered a bouncing puck in front of the net before backhanding in just his second goal of the season. It did not take long however for the Hurricanes to get back into the game as Jiri Tlusty was rewarded a penalty shot after being pulled down on a breakaway at the 5:39 mark of the period. After controlling the rolling puck, Tlusty was able to get Miikka Kiprusoff to bite on a backhand to forehand deke before lifting the puck over the keeper’s outstretched body to put his team on the board. Former Toronto Maple Leaf Tim Brent pulled the game to within one after he converted on a flames turnover as a result of a bad clearing attempt by Tim Jackman. The second period goal scoring continued just a shift later as Rene Bourque chipped the puck past defensemen Derek Joslin before riffling a shot between the legs of Cam Ward.

Just when you thought the game would start to slow down, Brendan Morrison scored his second of the night just a minute into the third period after the puck redirected of a Hurricanes defender and into the back of net.

Three goals quickly followed as Tuomo Ruutu and Eric Staal scored for the visitors, while Mikeal Backlund registered his second of the year on the Flames first power play goal at home since early November. Jarome Iginla scored his second of the night into an empty net to put the Flames up by three and all but ensure a victory on the night…at least one would think so. With just a minute left to play in the game, the Flames fell asleep at the wheel as Carolina scored two goals to trail by just one!!! Fortunately for the Flames they had the time clock working to their advantage as the high scoring back and forth sixty minutes of hockey ended in a 7-6 final.

With the win Calgary moves to 12-13-2 on the season and will look to get back to .500 as they get set to face off against the Colorado Avalanche Thursday night at the Scotiabank Saddledome.

Although the late game collapse was a little worrisome, I am not going to sit and focus on the negatives in what was an entertaining change of pace for this hockey club. The newly put together top line of Morrison, Iginla and Jokinen was flying all night and generated scoring chances every time they stepped onto the ice. Now the question becomes who will lose a roster spot once Curtis Glencross is ready to resume action. If I were a betting man, I would say that you will see either Matt Stajan or Roman Horak riding the pine for a few games due to the reemergence of Brendan Morrison. Personally I would prefer Stajan to sit out as I feel he does not have a clearly defined role to play on this team. Another possible roster move that you could potentially see Thursday would be Brent Sutter reinserting veteran defensemen Cory Sarich back into the lineup in favor of Joe Piskula.