so, uh, watching the game last night was all kinds of painful... admittedly, the flames looked pretty sound offensively: good forecheck, good scoring opportunities from more than just the first line (i mean nolan AND conroy scored, for cryin' out loud), good pressure in the isles' end.... at the end of the first period, actual score notwithstanding, the flames were winning. oh, but wait.... hang on --it's the ACTUAL SCORE THAT MATTERS. there was a little too much "hospital hockey" on the powerplay and not quite enough in the way of shots. c'mon, fellas.... seriously....
defensively, the flames were outrageous (and in that godawful, terrible, feel-it-in-the-pit-of-your-stomach-before-it-happens bad way). i don't need to point this out to anyone that watched the game. this was, strictly speaking, a defensive disaster. sillinger scores on two breakaways ??? how does this HAPPEN ????
before the game, i was listening to the fan960: an interview with garth snow. one question they asked was if, after the 15-year contract, he still thought dipietro was a "kiprusoff or luongo" calibre goalie. snow said "absolutely." later on in the pregame show, rob kerr et al. were all-but chastising this comment... the question should have actually been "after signing a six-year deal, do you think kipps is a DIPIETRO calibre goalie ?" it's obvious who the better goalie on the ice was last night... when the game went to shootout, i'm sure we all already knew what the outcome was gonna be.
[note: did anyone else notice that during the pregame skate vs. the rangers, lundqvist and co. had a drill that specifically involved one-on-ones ? i presume they do this every night.... why don't WE ???]
onwards and upwards. this was a good wakeup call for the flames ---they can play hard for 60 minutes, but the stupid mistakes will always cost them in the end. i find it FASCINATING that lombardi and tanguay are paired in 4-on-4 but never in an ES line....
*sigh*
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