Hockey night in Calgary

The Oilers have looked promising in their first two games this season, but in order to be successful this year, they are going to have to play well against their Northwest division rivals.


Tonight they take on the hated Calgary Flames. The Flames have looked pretty good so far, with the exception of a first game blowout by the Vancouver Canucks. Kiprusoff has looked shaky to start the season, and the Flames are really reliant upon getting allstar performances from Kipper and Iggy if they want to compete and be a mediocre to slightly above average hockey team.

Iginla can score 100 goals this year but if Kiprusoff lets in 5 or 6 per night it won't make any difference.

Bertuzzi has looked good in his first three games with the Flaming C's, he is driving the net hard, and burying his chances. The tough 6 foot 3, 245 pound left winger signed a 1.95 million dollar deal with the Flames in the off season, and so far looks like he might be one of the best bargains in the NHL.

That is, until you look between the Oiler pipes.

Mathieu Garon is a goaltender in the prime of his career (he turned 30 this year), and is showing that he is truly number one material. In his first two games this year, he has baffled the opposition. Positioning himself well, quick reflexes, and basically unbeatable down low, Garon is truly the Oilers greatest bargain. He is in the second year of a 2.2 Million dollar deal he signed before the start of the 2007-2008 NHL season. He is probably the greatest bargain in the NHL.

Hopefully Kevin Lowe gets to work sooner rather than later on a contract extension for this fantastic goaltender, we can't afford to lose him for nothing after this season is up.

On wednesday night we saw the benefit of having a mobile defense. Sheldon Souray snuck in from the point to jam in a goal, and my hero, Lubomir Visnovsky pounded a ridiculous slap shot past Anaheim's number 2 goalie Hiller for an amazing goal.

The Oilers power play is looking dangerous, it's been years since we saw this kind of puck movement with the extra man advantage. It's really fun to watch. The last few years Hemsky has basically been the quarterback of the power play, all the players would try to give it to him and he would make decisions as to where to go. This year we have already seen that quarterback duties are spread out between any of the 5 players on the Power play. I like what I see so far.

Defensively? Well it's painfully obvious that the Oilers are getting beat in their own end. On wednesday they looked flustered and chaotic. The good thing about this is that defense can be learned, offense can't. In past years we have had an excess of two-way forwards, this year we have an excess of offensive skill mixed with some defensive liability. I think MacTavish should be able to bring these guys around, make them a little more responsible in their own end, and not have to let the offense suffer because of it.

Garon is hot, Oilers can beat the flames tonight if they don't collapse in their own end. Look for the Oilers to beat up the Calgary Flamers 4-1.