travel_dude

Going for the Lucic breakaway? Oh my.

Messy PP to start

Canucks, Canucks, Canucks.... Is Calgary playing? Bo Horvat. Demmko.

Enough of the blathering on about the Oilers... Real hockey players are playing tonight.

Horvat and Demko both back tonight. Looking for a big game from Ruzicka. This should be the type of game he can excel in. I understand that Sutter commented that Ruzie was not at fault for either goal scored when he was on the ice. Good on you Darryl. Don't throw the kid under the bus, but also recognized that he was battling hard when the other team scored.

I respectfully relinquish the reins of topic creation to the MVP of GDT's, RocketDoc. You are Rocket Man. I am no longer undefeated. Time to start a new streak. We get Hunaryan Singh doing the call, so I guess that means we get Cassie. Don't know that the other options were any better. Cuthbert/Simpson doing Leafs Shorthouse/Garret doing Jets (I think). Michaels/Debrisk possibly doing Oilers, though it it in MTL so should be some MTL homers or mix.

I know this is probably not likely, but what if SJS is held to have to honor part or all of Kane's contract. Would mean he would somehow hold two contracts at the same time. How would they deal with that?

The Sharks placed Kane on unconditional waivers Saturday in order to terminate his contract, the 30-year-old then cleared on Sunday. San Jose cited "breach of his NHL Standard Player Contract and for violation of the AHL COVID-19 protocols." "With support of the National Hockey League, the Sharks are alleging that Kane, who tested positive for the coronavirus on Dec. 21, made a flight to Vancouver on December 29th and they are saying he did not have permission to take that flight, medical clearance to take it, and that is being disputed. "Also they said he was supposed to return to San Jose, the Barracuda's of the AHL, on Dec. 31 and did not come back until Jan. 6, also that is being disputed." So, if the grievance is about those reasons, and the NHL cleared him, doesn't that set up the voiding being voided if the grievance is successful? I don't know. It's not quite the same as the ex-Kings player. This is so weird.

Oilers seemed to know he was going to be cleared last weekend. But, the Oilers don't seem to escape NHL lowering the boom. There actually may be federal charges pending that we do not know about, or he could be targeted by TSA or CBSA when trying to cross the border again. He's been in Canada, so it's hard to say right now. 2 games in Canada to start, followed by a quick trip to US. Then back to Canada. Or it's 100% over and nothing else comes up. Seems odd that an independent review of the border crossing would clear him, if he was going to face other charges related to it. Who knows.

Well, the first goal was Monahan not recognizing the speed the player was increasing to. It wasn't a weak shot, but it's somewhat concerning that Markstrom doesn't get any piece of it. The second goal was a loopy puck that hopped over his stick. Hanifin and Ras were both playing the puck holder, but Hanifin gave up the player to the pass. I think if you listen closely, Sutter called out the vets on the goals against. Said they were responsible for the 3 against. So that's Monahan, Ras, Hanifin, Zaddy and Guddy. Sure Ruzie was out there for 2, but got burned on a bumped pass out. He was one of 5 players out there for the other goal. Sutter seems to have lost confidence in Vladar. Said the decidion to start Markstrom was easy and had been made some time ago. Light workload for Marky in the last month and Vladar winless in a month. Whether that is a fair statement, he doesn't pull his punches.

Sets up a dangerous precedence doesn't it. Don't abide by "team rules" and they can void your contract. I don't think it's quite that simple, but that's where this goes.

I noticed Chucky and it was not for a good reason. One timer didn't even come close to the net, went past the blue paint almost back to Gaudreau. Tripping and falling out there. Backlund had a chance to make a difference and came up lame. Two odd man rushes (one breakaway) and best he can do is glove. Behind the goalie and manages to hit the outside of the post. Sutter gave Ruzie a chance to work himself out of the doghouse. I think he is still the best we have for that spot, but Ritchie is jinxed. Special teams were not a factor. NHL is so bizarre. We play STL then have a day off and play again in Ohio. They have 2 days off and we have a B2B. And we haven't even hit the 3 B2B's in 3 weeks.

I don't know what happened to Helly this year. He is nowhere near the same goLie he was last year.

Toast

Blender out for a bit. Maybe due to PK.

Dube is muscled off the puck most times. He can shoot, but never gets a clean look. Considering Mangiapane is shifty, maybe time to make that shift again. Or try Mange and Dube on Ruzie's wings for a bit. We are not getting any speed going. When we do, the pass is in the feet.

30 odd seconds of PK time. We are obviously a little tired. Mental mistakes. Schedule loss. No excuses, as we have three more of these B2B sets coming up in the next three weeks. I susoect we will push the poace early and get one back. If there is enough resolve, then we can get ahead of them. Unfortunately, they are keying in on Gaudreau and Tkachuk is slightly off in his timing. Perfect time for Lindholm to step up.

Monahan (7) and Backlund (6). The point is well founded. Then again, neither plays on the top line. Horvat will push him back down when he gets back.

I have to laugh at the Oilers broadcast. Jack Michaels is uncontrolable. Wets himself when McD has any kind of breakaway. Loses his sh** when he scores.

Ruzie will get the popcorn next game. Doesn't deserve blame for this game, but it is what it is. He was behind the net and centered it to a Blues player. No Flames player there. Not sure who was MIA, but suspect he was in the wrong spot. THe penalty was leg on leg, not intent to trip.

Ok, so we know the goalie has a good glove. Stop aiming for the glove.

That was a weak call. Games management. Shorty please

Need to know what the goalie's weakness is. By us starting Markstrom, the Blues know. We have no idea with Husso. He's played us one period.

PP not clicking

He had the goalie down and out. Old Backlund back.