Tanguay/Yelle/Amonte/Playfair

Pavel Datsyuk puts in his second in as many games, just 1:02 into the 1st

Tanguay: about 1 minute into the game the puck comes to Tanguay on the boards. He mishandles it in his skates, Datsyuk steals it and scores. (01:02 in 1st) Detroit 1, Calgary 0

Yelle: Flames are down 3-5 and Kiprusoff makes one of his48 saves. Yelle gets the puck in the slot and has time to get it out. Insteading of putting it to the boards, or shooting it hard out, he fans the puck straight to Schneider, who passes it to Lidstrom. (PPG, 03:50 in 1st) Detroit 2, Calgary 0



Amonte: Calgary has miraculously put themselves within 1. Kristian Huselius gives Tony Amonte a beauty cross ice pass, and Tony has a wide open net. Tony fans on the pass reception/shot, the puck goes back to the blue line. David Hale makes an ill advised pinch and it becomes a 2-1. Huselius tries to catch up but is clearly gassed on the play. David Hale plays spectator and Huselius' man fires in the goal. (06:05 in 3rd)



Playfair: Mike Babcock is exposing Playfair's embarresingly bad system with a simple puck possession one. Wings get 51 shots on net, many quality. Calgary ties a team record for shots for futility, pointing only 15 at Hasek. (The only good news is that of the 5 games Calgary put only 15 shots on net, 1 was against Montreal in 1986, and one was against Vancouver in 1989.)



That's all you need to know for the game story. Oh ya, and Regehr looks doubtful for game 3.

The World Has Gone Crazy

Over the last couple of days I've just been trying to consolidate all of my thougths about Smytty leaving Edmonton. The press conference yesterday, which I listened to live, was absolutely heartbreaking, especially when Ryan said he wanted to bring the Cup back to Edmonton because 'that's where my heart is.' I know that this was a money deal (on both sides) pure and simple, but it doesn't make it any easier. I'm 23 years old, and although Gretzky inspired me to take up hockey at an early age, Smytty has been my main inspiration for a long portion of my life. I keep thinking back to this hilarious advertisement in the early 2000s (I think) where Ryan Smyth worked at a car dealership (Chevy I'm pretty sure) and it showed him in his various exploits, including stickhandling a ball around the showroom where the manager showed up and told him 'No hockey in the showroom Ryan!!' This is the same guy that was crowded around his family on Olympic decision day in 2001, when Lowe phoned him and asked 'are you nervous?' to which Ryan tried to remain cool by replying 'should I be?' If memory serves he cried tears of joy that day too. If anyone can think of a man who has been there for his country in international competitions more than Smytty be sure to let me know. The only name that comes to my mind is Gretzky.

But as Smytty said, he has to move on and start a new chapter and so do I.

How wierd does that look? About as wierd as this.

No, not Iggy high fiving his teammates...THIS!

Not only was it the first shoot-out win of the season, but a 2-1 victory? When is the last time we saw one of those? Of course, against the Wild, always think low, but still.

I actually thought the team played pretty well except for a couple of guffaws. The Yelle penalty was kinda BS, I thought there should have actually been a Wild one on the play (against Radavoyahaslamalamadingdong?). Brad Stuart managed to get beat on a 1-2 play, so the soon to be California-ite is still managing to look average at best (and what about the play in OT where he lost it right at the line? Protect the puck Brad!). He and Regehr still don't look comfortable with one another.

In my opinion, no player that wasn't on the roster last year will be more of a help in the playoffs than David Moss. Seriously, this guy plays a really simple style that has 'playoffs' written all over it. Its depth guys like him that play consistently and are willing to play in the dirty areas of the ice that make the difference. I especially like having a rookie, and I'm dead serious about this. New players have less bad memories and self doubt to infringe upon their current decisions. Think about Kipper's first playoff run, think about him now. Not that my point is proven, but its a theory that has credence.

Anyway, sorry for the disjointedness of this post, but I've been a little disjointed over the past couple of days. My friend and I are debating whether Smytty would rather we slit our wrists or drive a truck into a lightpole in his honour. A little post-Smytty-era humour there (or is it?)