Game 3: Edmonton 6 San José 4

That was something else. Right there you see Patrick Thoreson. A kid who didn't get drafted after his Jr career. He went to Sweden, worked his ass off and made an impression. The Oilers invited him to camp this year where he'd compete against NHL prospects like Pouliot, Schremp, Jacques, Mihknov... and he won a job. He won the coaches over in camp like no one has in a long time. Tonight he got on the board for the first time, and good for him. It's a great story.

For a while it seemed like it'd be the only good story from this game. The Oilers got into some serious penalty trouble, and got into a major hole. Hemsky in particular was a huge bonehead for giving the ref trouble after a penalty call. Cheechoo hammered us on the 5 on 3. This Sharks team is way too talented in their top 6 for us to give them that much PP time. You give Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleu and Cheechoo a 5 on 3 for an extended period of time and you are going to get scored on.

Weird feeling today? The confidence of many Oiler fans despite being down. When Lupul scored to make it 4-2 many of us had a terrific sense of calm. This team had the talent to come back. If they played their game it could happen. If they kept taking bad penalties it wouldn't.

Anyone who wasn't a believer should've become one in the third. The first minute of our 5 on 3 was painful as hell. Hemsky and Stoll back on the point was not a good set up. They knew the puck was going to Stoll for the shot so they could cheat towards him every time. Sykora and Stoll up there works much better. They call time out and things just snap into place. Not sure what Mac T said or Simpson, but they got the puck on net and Ryan Smyth did his job.

There are some fans who talk about trading Smyth every once and a while. He's not flashy, we have a lot of talent and it seems like maybe we could replace him. This is exactly the kind of game that shows you why you don't replace Smyth. There are only a few guys in this league who know what to do in front of the net on the PP. Smyth knows where to stand, he knows when to tip the puck, he knows how to do it, he knows how to push a goaltender's button. The man is a genius in his office. The other thing? Smyth scores. It's not pretty, it's almost never pretty, but Smyth scores. He just knows how to do it, and you can't teach that.

From there Roloson did for us what the three-headed monster wouldn't have last year. He held us in, didn't let in a soft goal, came up big on the PK... he was a true #1 for us tonight despite giving up 4. Thank god for that.

Finally, Hemsky does what great players do when they're having bad games. He scored anyway. Hell, Steve Staios even had a breakaway out there.

Our defense got pushed around a bit too much for my liking tonight. Looking a little weak along the boards on the PK. However, I think San José's PP is going to do that to almost anyone. Smid looked very solid again. Sykora makes me happy. Good game all around.

Penalties nearly ruined this night, but in a way they showed us the kind of team we have. It's what we all said. They'll drive us absolutely crazy, but they are going to be wildly entertaining.

Bring it on.

Next Game is Saturday in Colorado at 10pm Eastern Time. We should own Colorado, but I guess it's time to find out.

(PS - Ottawa and Calgary should watch a tape of this game so they can remember how to play hockey. Good god I nearly fell asleep.)