I promised myself I wouldn't do this, snowcrash doesn't need two posts on any game in these playoffs, not even game 7 of the Finals, but I'm too jittery not to. I'd have even started earlier but we had a dinner guest and I'm not (very) rude, even if it was an unexpected invite of one of the stepdaughter's friends.
That being said, I'm not sure that what I have to say will actually add anything to the sphere of weblogs (I refuse to use that other term), but in the spirit of weblogs, I'm going to say it anyway.
I'm not expecting the Hurricanes to roll over and die after G6 any more than the Oilers did after G2. So, I expect a return to the 2-1 type hockey we saw in games 3 and 4. Special teams will be key - if somebody's PP can pot a couple of goals and that team doesn't suck ES, it's over. As somebody (maybe even the CBC d00dz) said, teams that score shorthanded tend to win the game. I expect if there's a SHG, it'll be an Oiler raising his arms in celebration - Carolina's nowhere near as aggressive, usually.
Both teams have been known to be reluctant to shoot the puck; I expect that the team with the most shots that the other team's goalie has to handle (forget the shots directed on net metric, both teams are shot blocking fiends the likes of which haven't been seen since the 1998-1999 era Dallas Stars) will win the game. I think Markkanen's going to be ok, but the jury's still out on Ward. He'll likely be ok - he was good last game, considering how his defence didn't play in front of him - but you never know with young guys. If Edmonton can continue to be more mobile and harder on the puck than the Carolina defenders, they ought to be ok.
Thunderstorm rolling in: guess how pissed Mike is gonna be if there's a power outage?
I'm nervous about it, but I'm going to stand by my prediction of an Oilers win, even if I totally blew the number of games. I'll even stick it out and say it'll be 5-2, with the 5th into an empty net and a pair of power play goals.
All that aside... As I commented to my boss and a co-worker this afternoon, I've been tossing around how I'd like to see the game go. Do I want to see lots of great hockey from both sides? Or do I want to see a blowout? (Obviously I'd like the Oilers to take it either way.) Fuck it, I want a blowout, I want Edmonton to win 10-0. I've had enough of this back and forth heart in the mouth hockey, I've seen enough of that this year. I only want to hear about the Wales\^WEastern Conference banner going up in the Royal Bank of Canada Centre next season, to join the list of Whalers\^WHurricanes that played in the 06 Olympics. I want that Oilers third jersey logo with the 5 bolts representing the 5 Glory Years Cups to become an anachronism. I want to see Doug Weight in a suit, watching aghast as his former team pounds his new one the way he always wanted to pound the Stars and the Avalanche. I want Cam Ward to be Jim Carrey as a Bruin, not Patrick Roy as a Montrolorado Habalanche. I want the Oilers prospects, who started camp today, and players like Michael Peca and Sergei Samsonov to say "I *have* to play on that team next year," and Todd Marchant to eat a big helping of "I'm leaving town to join a winning team" pie.
OK, I could keep going, but what's the point? Even my wife is saying "Go Oilers!"