Well folks... As we sit around our TVs and celebrate Hockey Day in Canada, we are fortunate enough to have that team from the south (the Calgary fLames) playing against us instead of some other Canadian team. Why you ask? Because I love a good Battle of Alberta. Nothing can compare to a game like this. (I hope) I predict a 4-2 Oilers win. Gagner, Cole, Hemsky, Stortini scoring the goals. MacIntyre, Stortini and Peckham all fight tonight. Maybe even Gagner. (Maybe Andre Roy? jk) Let's go out there Oilers and kick some Calgary fLame ass.
-----------------
Due to me having company over, I won't be going as hardcore with the period summaries. Sorry, but I need to drink with my friends tonight.
-----------------
On a side note: we need to win tonight because the Nucks won in a shoot out (Damn you Sundin!) against the Leafs. The Leafs can't do anything right. :(
-----------------
1st Period
Boy the Oilers looked fired up tonight. Sporting the retro jersey's once again. MacT started the game with some line changes. Cole with Horc and Pens. And Hemmer with Gags and Nilsson. They really do look sharp so far here. All 4 lines look good. Smid nails Iginla and gets the crowd roaring. Yay Smid! The 4th Line gets a good chance with Big Mac crashing the net. But... the Oilers take a penalty. Guess who? Moreau for cross checking. But lucky for him the Oil kill it off. At 10:19, Smid drives to the net and draws a penalty. PP time for the Oil. But they can't convert. But shortly after the penalty expires, Erik Cole scores!!! Yeah! 1-0 Oilers. (Cole from Souray and Horcoff at 12:26) This is turning into a great idea by MacT. (about time) The Oilers do get another chance on the PP at 15:29 but once again they can not convert. 0 for 2 on the PP. Roli has made some great saves already in this game. But at 19:02 Gilbert takes a holding penalty. All in all, it was a good period by the Oilers. Let's see how the 2nd transpires.
2nd Period
Oilers get out of the gate quick. Brodziak gets a nice chance in the first few seconds. (We are on the PK still.) Through the first 8:00 minutes of the game there has been good flow with both goalies making some good saves. At 8:14, Hemsky takes a lazy penalty and puts the Oil down by a man. But the Oilers manage to kill it off (fLames are 0 for 3 so far) and next thing you know the fLames get nailed with a Too Many Men penalty. They manage to kill that off but the 4th line comes out again and again causes havoc in the crease. (Why not play them more MacT?) But wouldn't you know it... Iginla scores at to tie it up. Damn! 1-1 Tie Game. MacT now has Cole with Horc and Hemmer and Penner with Gags and Nilsson. For the record... Smid is AWESOME tonight. He is doing everything right. With some exciting play the period ends. Let's Go Oilers!
3rd Period
The Oilers have the peanut butter and jam tonight. The 3rd starts off much like the 2nd ended. Fast and furious. Holy crap! Hemsky scores! 2-1 Oilers. (Hemsky from Horcoff and Strudwick at 1:46) Well this gets everyone fired up. Cole gets a breakaway and Iginla takes a penalty. Not sure how that's not a penalty shot? But whatever... the Oilers are on the PP once again. I'll tell ya! The MacBlender is rolling tonight. Every shift is a little different than the last. Oh MacT... you and your crazy mind. Shortly after the Iggy penalty, Phaneuf takes a penalty. 5 on 3 for the Oil for the next 50 some odd seconds. They manage only one good shot from Souray. Boooooo! Cole sure has been great tonight. (I'm trying to enjoy his last few games with us. I am hoping he doesn't get moved.) With very little time left in the period, Calgary's Boyd and Moss collide in their own zone. The crowd goes wild. So with one minute left, the crowd chanting for the Oil, Mark and Marc mention that the crowd is anticipating an Oiler win tonight. A second later, Lombardi scores to tie it up. 2-2 Tie Game. Why in the hell can't people keep their mouths shut until the game is over? But Lombardi takes a penalty at 19:09. Overtime now with a little bit of a PP. Go Oilers!
Overtime
The fLames kill of the penalty and it's back to 4 on 4. With 2:30 left, Souray nails Adam Pardy and sends him and his helmet flying. Why do these guys have their straps so friggin' low? Are you guys retarded? Are you? So with the time winding down, Cammalleri busts in on a breakaway and Roli makes a HUGE save to keep the game tied. Shootout time.
Shootout
Gagner - loses the puck in the slot area. No goal.
Nilsson - gets poke checked by Kipper
Hemsky - also gets poked checked by Kipper
---------------
Tonight's Starting Lines
Penner Horcoff Cole (Penner was pretty good tonight. Horcoff was great tonight. Cole was great tonight.)
Nilsson Gagner Hemsky (Nilsson was above average. Gagner was pretty good. Hemsky was good.)
Moreau Cogliano Stortini (Moreau was below average. In fact rather stinky. Cogliano was average but fast. Stortini was below average.)
MacIntyre Brodziak Reddox (MacIntyre was limited to 3:25. Brodziak had some good shifts. Reddox was good tonight as he ended up taking Stortini's spot on the 3rd line.)
---------------
FINAL SCORE
Calgary Flames - 3
Edmonton Oilers - 2
--------------
BEERS
Shawn Horcoff - The guy was fantastic tonight. He played 26:07, had 2 assists, 4 shots and 2 hits. He seemed to do everything right. He was 23 wins, 9 loses for 72% on the face off dot. He was on fire. So to put out the fire, have a cold frosty Horc. Great game... Cheers!
Ladislav Smid - The Spaz was good again. He made smart and reliable plays. He was laying the body whenever he could. And he managed to log 19:26 of ice time. He even found time to block 4 shots. Good job Smid. Have a beer with me. Cheers!
Erik Cole - I am missing him already and he hasn't even left yet. He was good tonight. Scored a nice goal to get the game going. He made some good body checks. Heck, he even warranted 22:50 of ice time for all the hard work. Erik Cole... you have been a great Oiler. Enjoy another beer with me. Cheers!
Honerable Mentions
Liam Reddox (He was good tonight. He did what he could to help this team. I know. I feel wierd even saying it.), Dwayne Roloson (Gramps was a force tonight. Even I was chanting Roli, Roli, Roli from home.), Strudwick/Peckham (this was a pretty solid defence group. I liked them a lot tonight.)
---------------
JEERS
To be honest, I don't want to boo anything tonight. We did good. We just had a bad relapse with the time running out in the 3rd. Ok. Just a little one for that. Booooooooo!
---------------
Well what a great game that was. Tons of action and lots of speed. A true Battle of Alberta. It's just to bad that we ended up on the losing side. Damn fLames!
Next game is Tuesday vs. Tampa Bay. Is this Vinny's last game with the Lightning and his first as an Oiler? Stay tuned...
Would it be strange to you if I felt Horcoff played poorly? I felt his skating was great and his faceoff abilities were great, but it seemed like when push came to shove he didn't give enough. What do you think?
ReplyDeleteNo... I don't find that strange at all. If you compare last night's Horcoff to the Horcoff that we all grown to love (years past). Then that was a sub par effort.(except for the faceoffs) But if you compare last night's Horcoff to the Horcoff from this year, then that was one of his best games this year.
ReplyDeleteBut, we all have memories. Shawn may never revert back to the never give up, bust my ass, do what ever I need to do Horcoff that was making (a rather overpaid then) $3.6 million.
Well spoken Smokin'
ReplyDelete