Game 4 vs Detroit. 2130 Eastern, game in Edmonton.
Missed most of the first 10 minutes or so, but caught the first goal. Legace had no reason to not have that one - CBC guys said the play moved too quickly, but when the puck's behind the net you just have to be ready for that shot - it's not like it went across to the other side and caught him moving laterally.
109db in the Coliseum. (I refuse to call it Rexall. I still think of it as Northlands.)
I guess Steve Yzerman didn't dress - I missed the player intros. Not surprising after last game, he looked like he was in a lot of pain.
Does Dan Cleary's helmet have a chinstrap? I don't remember seeing that much of his flowing locks when he was an Oiler. Maybe the American helmets just suck or something.
Some confidence in Winchester from MacT - he comes back after taking a penalty, and gets told to stay on the ice as he circles back to the bench, the rest of his line joining him.
Oh, Edmonton has Matt Greene dressing - an Oiler injury? Harvey's out, so they're going with 7 d maybe. Too bad for Marc-Antoine Pouliot that he got mono - he gets injuries at the worst times. At least he was healthy last season so he could play with Sidney Crosby. Nope, Moreau got Harvey's spot. Ah, Greene got Tarnstrom's.
Gotta agree with Lee - if they make the crosscheck call on Staios, why not against Holmstrom on Roloson? He hit Roloson two or three times after Roli had the puck frozen. Maybe next time Smith shouldn't back off. Then the Wings score on the PP - well, congrats refs, you gave the Wings another goal.
Holmstrom's wondering why he got a penalty? Pretty egregious holding of the stick on Spacek, and he'd already gotten away with one on Roloson (then scored on the PP that got extended instead of nullified because of him)?
Odd Detroit goal to close out the first period - not sure why they were reviewing it at first, but it looks a bit like Kronwall's leg put it in. Doesn't look like it was kicked though... hard to tell. There's a bit of a kicking motion there, but not enough that I'd want to be the goal judge.
Why do the referees always stay on the phone when the goal judge is doinghis thing? What can they possibly be getting told? The ref never talks, soit's not like he's shooting the shit with somebody else up there. He's juststanding there, feet getting cold, shuffling a bit, and... waiting. Maybethere's no ringer in the phone, so the goal judges can't call down. "Oh, we have an answer now."
Spacek got it on net a couple of times in the Maltby penalty early in the2nd - doing better than last game. The second time he scored - Pronger hadto bail him out at the blueline. Second 5 hole goal on Legace this game.Hah, there go Garrett and Lee, reading my mind.
Samsonov's a guy who doesn't do a whole lot for 55 minutes out of the gameexcept stickhandle it around pretty, and then he gets a really reallykick-ass chance that sometimes he converts. The original enigmatic Russian.
I'm guessing Ryan Smyth and Chris Chelios don't like each other a whole lot.I hadn't realized that Chelios was so short (relatively speaking) - Smyth'snot exactly the tallest guy on the planet, but he's still bigger than Chelios. Funny, I'd always thought CC was bigger than that.
Two penalties for Matt Greene - hm, maybe we'll see Tarnstrom back nextgame, unless he's out because he's hurt.
Chris Chelios the diver complaining about a penalty call after he jabbed Ryan Smyth twice in the face with his stick? That's sad. Maybe those who aren't trustworthy are those least likely to trust.
And more great CBC production values - or maybe just my crappy Rogersdigital - I have a blue screen just as the second 5 on 3 starts. (Got another dead screen while I was editing this - copying and pasting into the stupid text-entry field, from the CAL-ANA game.)
Some very good passing by the Oilers with about 45 seconds left in thesecond - Stoll just missed being all alone in front of the net with the puckas Stoll won the draw back to Bergeron, who made a smart fast pass.
Beautiful chance on the PP at \~16:50 remaining in third - how did that onestay out? Good, hard forechecking on the shoot-in by the Oilers. Again, itseems like they want it more - as CBC said, 4 straight PPs for the Oilers.Greene and Winchester have excuses, they're rookies - what about Holmstromand Chelios? Although after 3 penalties, I'm wondering if Greene's gonnasee a lot more ice-time - maybe Pronger will double-shift, you know he cantake it. Although I think MacT thinks the third was a dive by the Wing, somaybe not.
Roloson's at a .937 save percentage right now. Yeah, he was worth thatfirst-rounder.Detroit on the PP, Detroit has the puck in their own zone, Peca chops thepuck off the dman's stick, and Pisani beat the other defenceman to the puck. Ouch. Then Pisani went and high-sticked Samuellson in the face - ouch. Notreally the way you want to stop an offensive chance. To add injury to injury, the Wings scored the 3-2 goal off a blueline pick by Lidstrom. Ifthe Oilers win, it'll be despite the refs, for sure.
In some ways, I like "the new NHL" - I like the usual zero tolerance forhigh sticks and elbows. But on the other hand, I don't mind that pick somuch if I know that the Oilers would get away with the same thing, but whilethey've certainly gotten away with a few calls this series - not this gameyet I don't think - they've not gotten a goal as a result yet, I don'tthink.
Great chance for Smyth in the third - went under review, but I don't thinkit'll count. Funny that they're saying Legace didn't want to touch the puckin the no-go zone: didn't stop him in game 1!Pronger just destroyed Cleary in the corner - not that Cleary's a big guy,and he foolishly tried to check Pronger, but... damn. Hopefully Pronger keeps *that* play up.
Hemsky took another stupid stick penalty though, and Datsyuk to Zetterbergfor a beatiful 4-2 goal, likely the backbreaker.
Ryan Smyth has had some great chances tonight, he just can't convert. He's been working hard all series and hasn't been rewarded. The Oilers need him to score a few, and they need Hemsky and Samsonov to do something together, especially off the special teams.
So far, I've been spot-on with my prediction: Edmonton and Detroit split thefirst pair in Detroit, and the second pair in Edmonton. So now it's a bestof three series. At least it wasn't another freaking double overtime tonight, although I'd have gladly sat through that if the Oilers would havecome out of it with another W. Ah well, can't complain too much - it's tied after 4.