Good Morning, Captain

My ears are ringing, the final outcome seemed pretty unreal & i'm still trying to get my brain around Game 1 last night at the RBC Center and it's almost time for Game 2 already...anyway, you can't ask for more in a hockey game than what you saw last night. Unless you're an Oilers fan of course in which case you could ask for a better 3rd period, and your brick wall of a goalie not going off the ice with a busted-up knee. The 'Canes have been playing without their star Erik Cole for months now but it hurts if you're the Oil to lose Roloson and it's no fun as a 'Canes fan to win against a team that's not at full strength...

Having said that: it's also no fun to watch the Eastern Conf champs come out and play 2 periods of substandard hockey...not that i ever bought the "Edmonton will be rusty" line of BS, but you'd think that we'd be hopped up ourselves right outta the gates. It took the 3-0 hole though and while the comeback was miraculous (and the 4 unanswered goals were scored against Roloson) it'd be nice to see solid hockey from Carolina for three straight periods. If it weren't for some absolutely ridiculous flailing by Cam Ward the 'Canes wouldn't have been in it.

Gotta feel bad for Conklin doing what most goalies do that drives you nuts as a fan, occasionally getting caught behind the net & taking too long to clear the puck, but doing it at the WORST POSSIBLE TIME and his teammate Jason Smith's inability to clear the puck himself has doomed Conklin to ignominy, at least for the time being.

But the rending of garments up in the great white north seems premature, considering Rollie the Goalie only played the last 19 games of the regular season, so didn't Conklin and the other guy get them there? We've got our backup goalie in the net, at some point you've just gotta deal. But I feel their pain and this guy is great at elucidating the pain of a fan who senses a season slipping away. Read his blog!

My point though is that Pronger & the Oilers aren't going to fold, Brind'Amour & Carolina will give no quarter, and we still have some intense hockey ahead of us. Is it 8 o'clock yet?