Man oh man! The Edmonton Oilers are a team on a mission. After a shakey start they have seized their opportunities and are rolling towards the Stanley Cup! They have to be the NHL's cinderella story so far.
Them and Buffalo. I think the Oilers can thank the undisciplined play of the Sharks for an easy third period. Right when I was starting to close in on the edge of my seat the Sharks decided to take some really dumb penalties. Oh well - Go Oilers!
Embarrassing, I don't know what got into Toskala. A few of the goals weren't his fault but he wasn't playing as well positionally as he has in the start of the playoffs. San Jose's defense in the third period last game started to look like Ottawa's in their first game in Buffalo. The common denominator: rookie D men.
No matter what happens, I will always blame it on Nils Ekman. He is everything wrong with San Jose and I will not cease blaming him until he is traded. What a useless collection of bones he is.
I'm not sure that you could say Buffalo is a "cinderella story". they had a solid team all year. Edmonton on the other hand has fought like dogs to even make it and are the last Canadian team standing. They are by far the Stanley Cup underdogs. Do I think they'll win? If they can make it to the finals I'd give it to them over any of the teams remaining in the East.
What a game. From the drop of the puck you cold tell that the Oil were going to win. They displayed more passion than the Sharks and won most of the battles to loose pucks. They were great on faceoffs, they were faster, stronger and put on a clinic as to how to kill a penalty. I can't wait for tommorow - Go Oilers!
Ahh perpetuating the Eastern stereotypes again are we? (I don't care, they're all true!! :P)
Well I could make up a whole bunch of excuses about why they lost, I'll post a few... probably in my thread but there are a few things that can briefly be mentioned.
1) Nils Ekman should die (or the Sharks should trade up for a Bantam House player) 2) Apparently it's legal to slash a guy in the back of the head and then drag him down with your stick to get a breakaway... ahem Mr. Peca. 3) When Toskala was in trouble he should have shaken like Michael J. Fox having a seizure to get his mask off and stop play (or throw his blocker off).
That's just last game. Don't be fooled though, Edmonton is not the better team... I think that San Jose was outcoached and I give full credit to Mactavish. More to come...