Flames notebook: 4 goal-less Flames aren't dying to score

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By Craig DeVrieze | Wednesday, April 9, 2008 1:05 AM CDT | () comments

Four Flames players have four more chances to notch their first goals of the season.

None, though, are making that a priority heading into the season’s final week.

“You don’t want to end the season with a goose egg,’’ said defenseman Brett Palin, who leads the club with a plus-14 rating despite having so far failed to find the net. “With that being said, it’s not my job to score goals. If it comes, it would be great. If not, I’m not too worried about it.’’

The third-year blueliner has exactly one career AHL goal, having scored once last year after a goal-free rookie season.

Like Palin, fellow defensemen Gerry Burke and Gord Baldwin aren’t about to go hunting the net this week.

“It is something I thought about this year,’’ said Baldwin, a rookie who scored 14 times in his three-year major junior career. “But in no way am I going out to score a goal. It’s not part of my game. You can’t plan on it. There is no pressure on me to get it.’’

Burke was a fairly offensive defenseman at the ECHL level, but has yet to dent the net in the AHL.

“If it happens, it happens,’’ he said. “I miss it, but there is always next year, right?’’

Third-year forward Ryan Donally also has yet to score in 10 Flames games, but he did score a career-high 15 for the ECHL Las Vegas Wranglers this year.

One of a kind goal

Speaking of goals, the Flames continue to marvel over the 185-footer that forward David Van der Gulik notched in Iowa last week.

“I haven’t seen a goal like that whether I was coaching or playing,’’ said coach Ryan McGill, who actually didn’t see Van der Gulik’s clearing shot from the Flames zone glide down the ice and hop over the glove of young Iowa goalie Matt Climie. Because the Flames forward basically was clearing the puck on a penalty kill, McGill took his eyes off the puck to ready for a line change.

“The only thing similarly close would have been the goal (Detroit’s Niklas) Lidstrom scored against Vancouver in the playoffs (in 2002),’’ said McGill. “He scored from center ice on a slap shot.’’

Van der Gulik’s improbable third-period goal last week was a big one. It tied the game at 3-3. The Flames ultimately won in a shootout.

“I was just trying to get the puck on the net,’’ the third-year forward said. “It turned into a goal and a really big goal. It was nice to see a bounce like that go in because I know I have had a lot of bounces not go my way.

Around the AHL

Of all the AHL year-end award winners so far, the most laudable has to be Jordan Sigalet, the Providence goalie who was award the Fred T. Hunt Trophy for best exemplifying sportsmanship, determination and dedication to hockey. Sigalet was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2004 and has continued to play hockey, returning to the ice this year several weeks after collapsing in goal. ... Also honored this week were Albany’s Michael Leighton as outstanding goaltender and Binghamton’s Denis Hamel as AHL Man of the Year.