flames v. flyers postgame: nice fin(n)ish

at the end of the movie "dirty dancing," jerry orbach tells patrick swayze "when i'm wrong, i say i'm wrong." that's pretty much me today.... while i meant it straight up when i wrote it yesterday, apparently i made an alfredsson-style guarantee: one where i'm totally, thoroughly, and undeniably wrong. if i knew i'd get the same results, i would guarantee a loss on every flames game remaining... :P

as for olli: i think it's too early to retract all of my deadline day feelings but i'm hugely hopeful after that first outing. i will absolutely admit that after his first goal, a textbook 2-on-1 tap-in, my first thought was "nice finish... lombardi would never have gotten that one." on the other hand, niittymaki had a truly awful period... i will say that the chemistry issue has been addressed (it's all good), but the futures and $$/worth issues won't be apparent until after the cup run, and into the summer. there is no doubt sutter's put all his chips on 09 red, and i realize (a day later with a clearer head) that's his JOB.

other notables:
- leopold, as i'd imagined, was paired with dion. this was a seriously golden pairing in the first game, and it will be interesting to see if he can steady dion in the long term. also interesting, on the leopold front, was his position on the ice for his goal: DEEP. i'm curious what a defenseman is doing way down by the net in his first game with a new team. hell of a pinch, leo... ;)

- vandermeer should go the way of eriksson, i'm afraid. not quite as bad but not good.

- i have to commend the flyers fan providing the feed on atdhe.com. at some point, he clearly decided there was other things he'd rather do than watch his team get annihilated, so he gave everyone a little metallica show. he turned it back to the game just after the knuble goal, but became quickly disinterested in it once again, instead providing the 1700-or-so (mostly flames) fans a lesson on the heyday of the broad street bullies. after conroy's third period goal, he switched it to *ahem* uhhh... porn... it was a big ol' middle finger to flames fans who wanted to see their "new" team celebrate a big win.... anyhow. funny.

- lombo had a tough night in boston, but the 'yotes still came out with a win.

- i can't find the comment thread (and trust me, i looked) but i'm pretty sure it was brent.G who suggested the flames should pick up steve downie and i'm definitely sure i lost it on him... this is precisely why...

- flames in carolina tonight. i'll probably miss the first period and then who knows what will happen after that... shall i guarantee a loss ??? :P