The boys began yet another late game with the continuous roster roulette, subtracting the injured Nick Foligno and returning James Wisniewski to the defense. Sean Collins was also called upon to play forward and Coach Richards went with seven defensemen to pick up the load. Scratching John Moore and Colton Gilles. During the pregame, Dan Kamal mentioned how such a line up would force this team to make all the pieces fit and everyone would have to be solid. The implication being that this team needs to be 100% on 100% of the time. A drop in any one area would doom the game. He didn’t know how spot on he would be.
The game started off well. The line of Matt Calvert and Cam Atkinson centered by Artem Anisimov would be the most solid unit on ice all night and struck early with a goal ten seconds in from Cam. Just when I had begun to wonder if he was cooling off a bit – Cam knocks one in and ties a franchise record. I don’t think Khabibulin had even gotten set in his stance. Lest you think Cam was done, he immediately assisted on goal number two passing to Matt Calvert. Jackets were up 2-0 and things looked good.
We knew Wiz was going to be rusty – his first games back after these long off stretches usually are – but we saw it in form when a turnover directly led to Paajarvi’s goal on Sergei Bobrovsky – cutting the Jackets’ lead in half. Yet I was still feeling okay about the game – even after Arty got called for tripping Hemsky although apparently the new definition of tripping is “being in the vicinity of a player when he falls”. The PK unit once again did it’s job notching one more for the “no score” column but that’s where our defensive strength seemed to end.
More and more we saw what is usually our calling card – defense – wither in the face of a faster Oilers team. One has to wonder why Johnny Moore sat, but it would seem we’d want his speed and skating on the ice against these guys. Luckily our offense was finding ways to score, until the league told us we weren’t. In a bizarre series of events, a net-crashing Matt Calvert was knocked down, and, the puck flicked off a sprawled Matty’s skate into the net. The on-ice officials called a goal but off we went to Toronto for review. The play has been over-dissected at this point, but I will say this: did the puck go off Matt’s skate? Yes. Would the puck have gone in without hitting Matt’s skate? Possibly. Did Matt Calvert kick or in any way have control over his touch of the puck? Well, unless he’s like the greatest parkour athlete ever, no. The goal was reversed and the call stung. Arty would bring our tally back to three on the next possession but plays like that can swing the momentum of a team that is still building a winning culture. It shouldn’t, but it can.
The game seemed within reach as that amazing 11-42-13 line would strike AGAIN with Arty setting up Cam for goal number two and point number three on the night taking the Jackets to a one goal lead. Although Potter would score from the point the period would end knotted up at 4. Edmonton swapped goalies, and we stayed with Bob but the game didn’t ultimately come down to only the ‘tenders. Our defense just couldn’t keep up and we looked slow to respond. After a near miss by Cam on a nice feed from Ryan Johansen, Hemsky would go end-to-end to pot the game winner. An empty netter by Sam Gagner would set the final score at 6-4.
What did I take away from last night? I continue to see the areas in which we need improvement. Unless everyone shows up 100% we can’t pull off the wins. Offense showed up – but the imbalance continues because apparently the defense took the night off. We didn’t deserve to win that game and it’s frustrating when officiating plays such a big role in any matchup because it cheapens the perspective on what really happened. The playoff goal looks farther and farther away today – yet based on last night’s performance, and our ability to show up on the road, playoffs seems entirely unrealistic right now.
Tonight the boys face Calgary. The first game for the Flames since they wished adieu to Iginla. It will be interesting to see what team takes the ice – on both sides.
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