It's about that time again! Clash of the titans! Or...well...probably more like Clubbing of the Baby Seals! come to thing of it. The Flames being the heartless fishermen and the Oilers being the Seals, naturally.
It sounds like fan hubris, I know, but the Oilers are hurtin' right now even by objective standards. They're 14th in the WC, -24 in terms of goal differential not to mention their leading scorer AND their most expensive defenseman are both down with bum shoulders. This is their resulting (insulting) forward roster:
Penner-Reasoner-Hemsky
Moreau-Stoll-Pisani
Glencross-Cogliano-Nillson
Brodziak-Gagner-Stortini*
*(not actual lines)
Just to up the ugly, check out the D corps(e):
Staios-Pitkanen
Gilbert-Greene
Grebeshkov-Smid
I guess all Oil fans can do hope is Curtis Glencross has a repeat performance.
As a Flames fan, I'll be pretty damn annoyed if the boys can't beat what appears to be a very good AHL team (or a rather terrible NHL team). Tonight is the perfect opportunity for Jarome to finally bust out of his long scoreless slump. The last time he went 10 games without scoring was the season that Val Bure led the Flames in points. I can't see that happening again, particularly with the level of competition he'll be facing in Edmonton this evening.
I know, I know...Im testing fate/karma/the angry hockey gods with all this cocky "we is gunna beat them boys bad" talk. But, I figure the Flames were punished last game enough, what with all the unlikely bounces and goals against and posts for and such and such. The fickle Probability Demons got their pound of flesh last game. This game, Calgary should end up offering up the Oil as a sacrifice in their name(s).
Prediction - Calgary 5, Edmonton 2. Iginla (X3), Langkow, Aucoin for the Flames. Glengarry Glencross and Petr Klima's helmet for the Oilers.
GO Flames.
PS - Joseph gets his first start tonight and it looks like Eriksson will be a scratch again (woohoo!).
