The battle of Alberta finally got on track with the same old same old. Actually this time, it was pretty boring. For almost the entire game the Oilers had trouble answering to the Flames consistent forecheck, but in this league you actually have to score occasionally.
All it takes is one break down in coverage, one bad save, to lose a game. That’s what happened late in the third period when Sykora picked up a bad rebound all alone to put the Oilers ahead.
One would think the battle of Alberta would be a hard hitting affair. Nope, not this time though. The only penalties were for hooking, 7 of them, for Calgary. How many powerplay goals? None? You’d think the coaches would put together a package that involves more than dump and chase and point shot. It’s been the same since 2004. Any team with half a coach would design something to take advantage of cheating forwards on the powerplay.
Anyways, blown opportunities (there weren’t many) and inability to score dealt the Flames a blow today. The good news? 7 straight at home coming up which means a chance to get back on track in a hurry. Unfortunately, this was a 4 point game as the Oilers are now 5 points ahead of the Flames but we have 2 games in hand.
Next up, Chicago. I’ll be at this game so look for some pics tomorrow. Giordano was called up as well, look for him to get into the lineup as Zyuzin took a puck to the foot in the 2nd and never came back.
