To be the man, you gotta beat the man
By Ryan Lambert
15 years ago
And that’s why the Oilers are nowhere near being the man.
EDMONTON OILERS!
You thought, just because it was your hometown, this was gonna be easy? You thought you’d just stroll through this game and come out on top? WELL GUESS AGAIN, JACK!
Ya see, there was one thing you weren’t countin’ on, and that’s the Calgary Flames NEVER. GIVING. UP. You thought you had the game all wrapped up. That pencil-necked geek Ales Hemsky scored a goal nice and early in the third period and thought you’d left us for dead. Well, sunshine, it don’t work that way!
Because the Calgary Flames, they don’t joke around, daddy. NEVER think the game is over until that final buzzer because come hell or high water, by hook or by crook, the Calgary Flames ALWAYS win!
WOOOOOOOO!
All that matters right now in this sport of ours, the greatest sport in the world, is the division lead. And Edmonton, you don’t have it. Like it our not, it belongs to the Flames until there’s a team.. a team that can walk that aisle and do somethin’ about it.
We can talk about the women, the big cars, the nice clothes, the yachts and the private jets. And why can we talk about all those things? Because we’re on top, jack.
And Edmonton Oilers, you poor little things. If you think that walkin’ through life with a bunch of mediocre forwards and an ancient goalie gets it done, you’re SADLY mistaken! For every mediocre forward you have, there are THREE great ones on the Flames. You know why? Because we’re on top, whether you like it or not.
You talk about the Calgary Flames, and the Chicago Blackhawks and the San Jose Sharks and the Detroit Red Wings and the Boston Bruins, and you’re talkin’ about winners, jack. Edmonton Oilers, you don’t even enter into the discussion.
And you may not like it, but you will learn to… what? LOVE. IT.
Because we’re the limo ridin’, jet flyin’, kiss stealin’, wheelin’ and dealin’ sons of guns and we are…
THE BEST THING GOIN’ TODAY! WOOOOOOOOO!
The Good
- Coming back. The finish was certainly dramatic, with Matt Lombardi’s goal coming just seconds after the CBC announcer (whose name escapes me at the moment) had declared, “And (the Edmonton fans) can sense the victory now.” What a snipe by Lombo. He picked out that corner and wired the puck that at roughly the speed of sound. Gorgeous. Simply gorgeous.
- Jarome Iginla was very much involved in this game, and that’s been a rarity this month. Even apart from his goal, I would have been quite happy with his effort. And the feed from Cory Sarich on said goal? Ridiculous.
- Todd Bertuzzi’s shootout goal was SICK. Capital S-I-C-K. No stupid penalties last night either. Stuff like this is why it’s difficult to ever truly begin to dislike what he brings to the team.
- Ho hum another outstanding night for Miikka Kiprusoff whatever.
- The Flames are 1-0-0 in Battle of Alberta games since the start of FlamesNation. You’re welcome.
- Sure is nice shovin’ it down the throats of every one of those punks over at OilersNation (except our bosses, who pay us hundreds of thousands of dollars a week. Please keep sending those checks!).
The Bad
- The growing amount of injuries is definitely troubling. Bertuzzi took a puck in the hand, David Moss and Dustin Boyd had a bit of a collision that left both a bit worse for wear, and that’s on top of the handful of important players (Rene Bourque, Daymond Langkow) that were already missing. Great. Just great.
- The other day we said giving up a point to a division rival is never good, but the fact is the Flames battled back to snatch (shootout) victory from the jaws of defeat, so I’m not entirely unhappy with the result, that’s for sure.
- The power play remains a problem but at least they cobbled together six shots on four chances, some of which were abbreviated. Step in the right direction but it’s not even close to where it needs to be.
The Ugly
- Oh my god the turnovers. Yeesh. They were plentiful and egregious, that’s for sure.
- Too many chances squandered, especially by Mike Cammalleri, who typically can do little wrong in my book. He had a number of point-blank chances and did nothing with them. Usually someone would say you’d have to give credit to Dwayne Roloson, but I don’t. Cammy needs to bury those chances. They would have changed the complexion of the game.
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