Wednesday, January 21, 2009

 

Flames Game Day

Blue Jackets @ Flames, 8PM MT, RSN West

So, quite the game last night. The Jackets have nice depth, and worked the Oil pretty good on a shift-by-shift basis. But while Rick Nash's nice plays went slightly awry (or, notably, were muffed in the slot by Malhotra), Ales Hemsky's worked out, and yes that's understating it. Dennis pretty much pegs it in the Lowetide game thread:
I honestly can't think of another time when a guy single-handedly lifted us like he did tonight. He set up 71 perfectly, he schooled Mason, he hauled Mason out of the net to the point where 37 had basically an open net and then he strolls down the slot like he has all the time in the world and if the fucker stopped time and placed the puck with his hand, it wouldn't have been any better situated.
[...]
To keep on the Hall and Oates theme, tonight the Oilers were a Rich Girl who relied on the old man's money (Hemsky)

I'm still a C-Bus believer, but tonight seems like an awfully good time to take advantage of them. At home, with the opponent (including the goalie) playing the 2nd half of a B2B. And Huselius is hurt to boot.

A sidebar from last night's game: Quinn & DeBrusk, as well as a score of LT commenters, were pretty peeved about Jared Boll initiating contract with Roloson partway through the 3rd. If you didn't see it, it was one of those deals where Boll was just off the doorstep, Staios crosschecked him in the back, and Boll embellished, basically pushing off with his leg into Roloson.

It's a bit of a bad example, but I'm going to make my point anyway: why do defensemen do this? It's one of those things that make me scoff when someone suggests that we need players to be able to police themselves, because when it comes to protecting their goaltenders, players are terrible at it. How often do we see a player check somebody into their own goalie? Every 2nd game?

It's mostly guys like Staios, Vandermeer, & Willie Mitchell, but there's plenty of them: guys who are clearly willing to risk injuring their own tender in order to inflict a bit of pain on someone in (or next to) the crease. It's baffling, particularly when their goalie has the puck frozen already -- are they coached to do this? Are they coached not to, but just do it anyway? And during play, if you're willing to take a penalty to prevent a scoring chance, why not hold the guy instead of bombing him into your most vulnerable player?

I'm being an all-Canadian tonight (curling @ 845), so I'll likely be missing most of the game. Here's hoping that the lads score a quick couple and then turn it into a snoozefest.

Calgary 3 (Iginla x3)
Columbus 1 (Peca!)

Go Flames.

Comments:

Do the Jackets have another Peca on the roster we don't know about?
 


Wait! Is Pekka Rautakallio trying a comeback? Fantastic!
 


That *would* be awesome. (He can have his #4 back).

Pekka's kid, who was the same age as me, played hockey in Cgy in 80-81. Know what's funny? Trying to squeeze that name onto the jersey of a 7 year old.
 


Unfortunately, Mike Peca doesn't seem likely to cash in your prediction from the press box.
 


I just noticed this now (although I suppose it happened last night): Calgary sits in third and Edmonton in sixth.

When was the last time there was a BoA in the playoffs? (1991, according to wikipedia) That would be one hell of a show.

On a similar note: someone on BoA should consider hosting one of those interactive liveblogs the next time the two teams play.
 


I think the theory is that if you're going to take a penalty might as well as well make it count and punish the other guy.
 


And I'm assuming by 'someone', ngthagg is referring to Matt, since the Oilers bloggers seem to have vanished from column writing duties...
 


If Calgary and the Oilers finish 3-6, I have a feeling you'll see Sacamano and Andy back on duty here pretty quick.

If it happens I say we suit up Tikkanen. He can pick up where he left off.
 


It makes me sad that people have to look up the last time we had a playoff BOA/
 


I figure setting up the liveblog is probably easier than writing a column. But yes, Matt is the one most likely to get things going.

Dennis: The last playoff BoA occurred when I was 10 years old and not much of a hockey fan. So it's a matter of ignorance, rather than forgetfulness.
 

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