ad infinitum

once again playfair's flames have redeemed themselves at home, looking very solid in a 3-2 game 4 win last night. but i'm no stooge: i'm wise to these tricks, we've been doing it all effin' year.

clearly, if the team that showed up wearing the black flaming C's over the past two games make an appearance for three periods on saturday afternoon, we'll head back to calgary up a game in the series. BUT (and this is a huge but), i am entirely skeptical that it will happen; for reasons that absolutely nobody on the planet can seem to explain, the road flames (aka: the evil twins) are a really really bad hockey team. and, as expected, after a couple of sutter-style outings in the 'dome, everybody seems to have forgotten that the flames will probably still look like a bunch of clowns back in hockeytown. sure, i hope they prove me wrong, but i figure the trainers are already diggin' out the enormous shoes and spongey red noses...

things in our favour:

- gio. 'nuff said. :)

- goaltending. one highlight from the net-cam last night showed miikka pulling some crazy moves that appeared to be in fast-forward, even though it was being replayed in regular speed. dude is on his game. conversely, hasek looks kinda... um... mediocre ? maybe the word is just "old" but give the guy some credit, right ?? he's still a top-10 'tender.

- working line combos. playfair has hit on a winner by reuniting iggy with langkow & juice. this, of course, puts moss back on with conroy and tanguay (who, btw, needs to stop taking penalties). the 'grind line' of yelle, nilson & friesen looks fast, strong & potentially lethal shorthanded. and --whoah-- when you pair lombardi with primeau, good things happen... like amonte looking just less than not bad... and the best part ? playfair left them together for most of the game... :)

- our PP looked awesome, with two goals. our PK looked better with bodies dropping in front of shots and a lightning fast kipper.


things against us:

- while our defense is looking much better these last two games, the wings are still able to penetrate the zone at will. this will lead to goals (read: their second last night). full stop.

- playfair & playfair's tragic suits

- away-game, white-jersey, harvey-less mental inenptitudes

- ST's desire to watch a game in real time (if i count correctly, the flames are 10-0 when ST PVRs the game)...


it's still possible to win this series.
;)