Flames' Wregget Saves The Day
Ken Wregget showed Friday night why he's played every minute of every game in goal for the Calgary Flames this season.
Wregget made 27 saves as Calgary played to a 0-0 tie against former Flame Rick Tabaracci and the Washington Capitals.
In a matchup featuring Calgary's No. 1 goalie this year against his predecessor from last year, Wregget was the busiest of the two as he continues to be a bright spot despite a slow start to the Flames' season.
"You feel better, you're a little bit more smooth, and things come a little bit more naturally when you play more," said Wregget, who appeared in only 15 games last season because of recurring back problems. "When you only play once every two or three weeks, or even once a week, you tend to get a little bit rusty."
Despite having won just once in their last seven games (1-5-1), Wregget said the Flames are showing improvement.
"Games are won and lost on mistakes and we were making a lot of mistakes earlier in the season," said Wregget, acquired from Pittsburgh in an offseason trade for center German Titov. "As we continue on this season, we're making less and less mistakes and we want to continue that trend."
The tie before a crowd of 15,164 was a good result for the injury-riddled Capitals after an 8-2 drubbing at the hands of the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday night.
"We've got a mature hockey team and the guys realized that we just didn't have a good hockey game that night, so let's wipe it out and concentrate on getting some points out of this game tonight," said Tabaracci, who appeared in 42 games with Calgary last season and went to Washington in the offseason for future considerations.
The Capitals were missing eight regulars from their lineup.
It was the second scoreless tie in the history of both franchises.
Washington's first was on Dec. 10, 1988, in Montreal when Pete Peeters and the Canadiens' Patrick Roy battled to a draw.
Calgary's first came with Trevor Kidd shutting out Los Angeles and Stephane Fiset on Oct. 26, 1996.
Washington's best scoring chance actually ended up in the net, but Mike Eagles' apparent goal eight minutes into the second period was called off by referee Terry Gregson after it was ruled that Eagles' stick was above his shoulder when he deflected the puck.
Andrew Cassels had the best chance for Calgary early in the first period when he was set up at the edge of the crease by Valeri Bure only to be denied by an acrobatic pad save by Tabaracci.
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