flames v. nucks pregame: your guess is as good as mine

i really have no idea what to expect from the new year's eve rematch between the flaming C's and the guys donning the green-and-blue uglies.... but i know i'll be in attendance.

GOALTENDING:
a jekyll-and-hyde kippsie versus a nearly unflappable luongo.
i see bobby-lu got a tripping penalty tonight against the ducks, so with any luck maybe that means he was slightly off his game. still, he only let in one goal, so he's hardly coming off a netminder meltdown... miikaa looked like kipper1.0 at the end of the night on saturday, so fingers crossed that's the guy that will show up to ring in 2008...

DEFENSE:
the orcas are still without #2 defender mattias ohlund, but seem to be keeping the goals out from behind their #1 guy, luongo. the flames, on the other hand, are all over the map; though eriksson had a decent outing on saturday he can still be considered a liability at any given moment (which makes phaneuf the same). i have to say i've been appreciating the play of david hale, of late, as he goes out and plays shift after shift largely invisibly. except for that one shift where he debateably won a fight against matt cooke.... regehr also looked every inch the strapping lad he is when he absolutely wallpapered a niedermeyer...

OFFENSE:
the good news is clearly that if we can corral the twins, we should be able to notch a W. the EXTRA good news is that vancouver can watch as much tape as they want on the flames' twelve forwards, they'll still step out on the ice with no idea a) who will be on the first line, b) who will be on the second line, c) who will be on the third line, and d) who will be on the fourth line. while i'm not sure this will work in calgary's favour as far as netting goals, it should occasionally leave mike weaver or alex edler on the ice with any/all of iginla, huselius, tanguay.

prediction: 3-2 nucks (and it hurts me). sedins with a couple --let's say one each--- and trevor linden with the winner (for old times sake). on the other side, i'll say d.boyd with one and lombo with the other.

i.
can't.
wait.
:)