flames v. isles pregame: the crossroads

i used to think that somewhere along the line, rick dipietro sold his soul to the devil: first the guy gets drafted ABOVE heatley and gaborik (note: krahn, kolanos & hale were also drafted in the first round that same year, and henrik lundqvist went 205th overall), and if that weren't enough, he gets signed to a 15-year, 67-million dollar deal, on slightly-better-than average stats.... is there any wonder, really, that the guy was playing on a team with satan when the exhorbitant contract was signed [in blood] ????? he has, admittedly, proved his worth in the past year or two --and his worth is far beyond the 4.5 million dollars he's getting per annum. he's looking like a bonafide #1 guy and has some decent stats to back it up.

calgary needs to score tonight, and due to dipietro's solid play as of late, this is gonna be a challenge ----not unlike the game v. phoenix. i forsee keenan starting the lineup a little differently (fingers crossed that means a lombardi/tanguay line, even if it has to include nolan), but i also forsee the islanders shutting down the (b)iggy line. this should be a low-scoring affair, i'll call it at 2-1 for the hometeam in what might be my first prediction of the season. tangs and iggy each with one, while MAB will score to make up for the -2 he'll be running on the rest of the game....