Gallos' Six-Pack for Game 34: Edmonton Oilers

Hee, hee.  Funny thing.  Did you know that you can actually kick the puck while your skate is shaving ice as you try to stay on your feet?  Definitely a DKM (patent pending)(sarcasm intended).  But that's not the funny thing, that's just the second time the war room has ruled a Blue Jacket has kicked the puck with the one foot the player has in contact with the ice as they go down.  The funny thing was that I promptly clicked over from the Buckeye game to the CBJ game at game time, watched maybe 10 seconds of Rimmer and Davidge, and woke up with 6 minutes remaining in the first period, right after Matt Calvert scored the second goal.  Then I clicked over to the Buckeye game, saw Ross can the winning 3 pointer, flipped back in time to see Wiz cough up the puck at the blue line, and Edmonton scores.  Once I woke up and found out what I missed, things moved quickly.

Part of what I missed was Cam Atkinson scoring 10 seconds into the game.  Matt Calvert added to that late in the first period.  Then Wiz coughed one up, and the first period ended 2-1 CBJ.  The host Oilers came out hard in the second period, and Eberle walked through the defense to tie the score, leaving Tyutin fishing around on the ice for his lost athletic supporter. The CBJ score again on a nice goal by Anisimov, and then 29 seconds later, the Oil score, and the second period ends 3-3, which isn't really indicative of how much Edmonton dominated the play.

The third period started the same way the first period did, with Atkinson scoring again in the opening momentss of the third period, to chase Khabibulin, the Edmonton goal tender.  But the Jackets cough up 2 more goals plus an empty netter and lose 6-4.  The CBJ were never really able to handle Edmonton's speed, and spent a lot of time waving sticks at the Edmonton players as they flashed by.  And a lottery pick all of a sudden is starting to look like a real possibility.

Wowza.  Beer.

1. My first ice cold beer goes to Cam Atkinson.  What a game!  Scores two goals, has an assist, was all over the ice all game.  Unfortunately the offensive pressure he helped develop backfired a couple of times as Edmonton took the puck back down the ice and scored.  But that takes nothing away from Cam's overall game.  Well done Cam, its nice to see the ankle is coming around.

DMac jumps into the picture in Atkinson's place on
Artie's line

2. My second beer goes to Matt Calvert, as part of that line that was on fire.  With a goal and an assist he was also all over the ice.  Cam and Matt seemed to have the speed to be able to keep up with Edmonton, but got caught over committing offensively several times.  Their line ended up with a +/- of 0 even though they scored 3 times.

3. My third frosty cold beer goes to Artem Anisismov.  He centered the dominant offensive line and scored a goal and had two assists.  His goal was a thing of beauty.  This line was really on fire all over the ice.

4. My fourth beer goes to the Edmonton skill.  They kept coming with the speed, our defense couldn't cope with it, and it turned into a pretty typical trip to the old barn known as Rexall Place.

Wait, what's this??  My last two beer cans appear to be warm and damaged.  A quick check shows that yep, these indeed are skunk beers.  Hmmmm.  I wonder who I should give them to.

5. My fifth beer, a good skunky warm one, that's good and flat goes to the War Room in Toronto.  That was an incredibly feeble effort.  You used that tape to reverse the call on the ice???  Brutal gents, just brutal.  Take a long, slow pull on that skunk beer, and savor the foul flat taste, because that's the same taste you left in our mouth.  Be interesting to see if JD has a reaction to that.  Pick up the phone and let 'em know what you think JD.

6. My sixth beer, another good skunky warm one, went to our defense.  Standing around and waving sticks at the puck isn't going to get it done.  Wiz had a brutal game in his first game back.  But the whole unit didn't really seem to have a clue how to handle the transition, though the forwards were getting burned getting back as well.  Wasn't exactly Vinny's best night either.  He struggled with the pace of the game, and it may be that the wear and tear of this schedule is starting to show.

Overall, a good offensive effort, not so good on the defensive side.  Bobrovsky looks tired to me.  I think you have to start Mason in the next one.  Hopefully he has something to bring to the table.  I think it would be a mistake to play Bob.  I understand that you want to ride the hot goal tender like a rented mule, but you have to realize your tender's limits too.  Its time for a break.  Our lottery pick is on the line, so starting Mason may not be so bad.

Back at it tomorrow night in Calgary.  That should be an interesting game, pretty much MUST WIN for the CBJ if they are going to entertain playoff hopes.

GO JACKETS!!!