Slowly getting there boys. After the 3rd goal, Coach Martin called a time out for a chat (not as intense as Torts') that...slowly started to get results. I mean you know, all night the guys had some chances but nothing really cohesive for 39 minutes. Gionta took charge of that with 30 seconds left in the second to give us some hope, but the Oilers came out in the 3rd with their own lessons learned about squandered games. Oh and The Beard (Mara) going after Brule for that headshot on Chipper just earned him some brownie points. How's that for ironic though. After Quinn went on and on about players having no respect for one another in reaction to Souray's injury the other night, one of his own goes out and gives our guys a classic headshot, blindsided style. Lucky for us, Chipper's tougher than most players. Probably would have gone after Brule himself but I think he was getting off anyway.
Speaking of Chipper, I think his line played great tonight. We even saw Laraque actually hustle to get back on a play. I don't think I ever saw him skate that fast. And Patches was excellent on that line. Perhaps putting him there is beneficial, as when BGL is on the ice everyone's Laraque Senses are tingling so the ice opens up a bit... Chipper protects the boards and the blue line simultaneously while Patches zips around for openings.
The penalty kill was heaps better than the last two games, but I'm cautiously optimistic on it because the Oilers missfired a lot on one of them. The powerplay, however, is in need of practice. I'm hoping Bergeron will be able to boost it when he joins in, as that's his specialty. Weber was used, but the problem with the kid is last year he caused way too many shorthanded goals against. Tonight, we saw him hustle back to make up for his error. He's still learning!
Tonight's Goat of the Game is: Andrei Kostitsyn.Andrei, Andrei, Andrei... Here I thought you finally broke your slumber. And after the first shift you had tonight, I was sure I wasn't dreaming. And then you lazily tossed a weak pass through the center of your zone for no reason right on to an Oiler's stick, made no attempt to recover your error, put your team into a scramble, which eventually put your team into a hole. Voila, genius. And thus, you were benched for the rest of the game.
FYI, last year it took the coach (I think it was Gainey by then) an entire season to pressbox his lazy ass for punishment.
Finally heading HOME and never going back
- We can all be good fans and thank Price for 2 games on this fucking long trip. Last I looked there was supposed to be a couple of guys playing on this team who really could have given us and him at least ONE...
- Every error becomes a headache. Or a goal against. Work on it.
- I bet on Cammy. He wanted to score. He wanted to score so badly. But he only got an assist tonight. He gets a point, and so do I!
- Why was Hal Gill on the ice with an empty net at the end, you ask? (Other than Hammer having problems). Because you need someone who has the sense to block the empty net like a log. The Treant and The Beard did the job.
- The Beard was pretty solid tonight. Came back from his fighting penalties extra pushy too.
- Hammer's first goal of the year is brought to you by Horcoff's stick.
- Gomez changed out of his gear for the interview really quick... Crabby Khabby was still in his goalie shorts.
- We should be doing better in the East. Home opener is Thursday. The Beard vs Darcy Fucker? Bank on it.
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