flames v. habbies: the prustrom line dominates

i have a feeling it'll be awhile before i attend another game at the PSD*, and it will be a long time until i go to a game that's as much fun as the fleury shootout winning tilt against the isles a few weeks back..... flames v. habs tonight was a well fought, hard-hitting, two-way battle that the flames were somewhat fortunate to notch in the win column....

some game notes:

- gio jersey is effectively 2/2 this season.

- regehr and dion stink together.... i don't really wanna talk about it anymore. on the ride home, the consensus on the fan960 was that the duo would have to figure it out together, because breaking up the gio/jaybouw and pardy/kronwall pairings would be a travesty. hm. could be true but i wonder what happens when sarich skates off of IR.... ?

- the prustrom line [the recently named fourth line, which i am fully in support of] had an absolutely sick night tonight.... freddie might have stonehands, but the kid can skate like the wind and therefore cause some serious chaos. prusty can sink'em in the net and pester the opposition into coughing up the puck.... and what can you say about nystrom ??! he's picking up exactly where he left off last season and is surely due for another handful (+?) of goals this year.... with any luck, brent sees this group for what it is: a fast group of three utility players who, against soft competition like laraque, can really light it up.... switch out any of them for a healthy mcgrattan (rumoured to be happening soon) and this line will become slow and defensively liable.... ugh.

over at m&g tonight, everyone was bemoaning the first line's lack of productivity and heinous backcheck. "What do you mean? I thought the 1st line looked great tonight. Nystrom with the hatty, Prust with a tilt and solid effort, and Sjostrom played well. Great effort from the 1st line" said commenter rosscreek.

touché.... ;)

- for the record, the REAL first line (ie: wherever iggy's playing) still stinks at ES, but are conversely awesome on the PP. i have no explanation whatsoever why one extra player on-ice for the opposition makes iggy and jokinen go from textbook amazing to painfully brutal....

- great night by the pardy/kronwall pairing, which was unexpected at this juncture.

- perfect shot block by gio in the dying seconds to preserve the win.

that's about it for tonight, methinks.
head to head with the oil again on thursday and i'm praying to the gods that sutter puts cumac in net and rests kipps; preparing him to play the second game of the back-to-back v. the stars on friday. will i get my wish ? i guess we'll know in about 48 hours.....

*calgary rink's initials referred to this evening by my pal strombo... so perfectly obvious yet never before used....