2nd Most Important Win of the Preseason!
Ok fine, most important, since the opponent is unpopular round here...
Fuck Calgary. That is all.
Twitch
And in the cramped confines of Abbey, the Nucks did just that. Eventually.
Nucks opened the scoring late in the 1st... the last minute of the 1st. Sassy (Sasson) scored with an assist from Sherwood. 1-0 Nucks going into the 2nd.
In the 2nd Cowpolers tied the game. However, in the last minute of the period, our new Pete partner, DeBrusk, tipped a Desharnais point shot. 2-1 Nucks after 2.
The undefeated preseason fLames were obviously going to lose. Or would they? The Nucks who played last night had a little less jump in the 3rd. The Nucks who didn't play last night also had a little less as well. Except Huggie. He was skating around like he had the ice to himself... and did. Also picked up a couple points.
The Cowpoofers score 2 goals in the 3rd, lead 3-2, looking to win the game. On the Cowtown 3rd goal Juuls and Debrusk got caught in their own blueline gravity-wells ... yay preseason!
Doesn't matter. Taco empties the net in the final minute and Nucks luck into a 6-on-4 with 43 seconds to go. Turns out Nucks didn't need the over-man advantage. Just one man. Sprong sprung himself from his own blueline, blew through 4 fLames, undressed the goalie and tied the game with 14 seconds to go.
Off to OT we go. We might enjoy OT more this season as Huggie, Pete and DeBrusk play 3-on-1 and DeBrusk gets the GWG - his 2nd of the game.
Yay! We win! Undefeated in the pre. Cowpockets pickup a pre-Looozer point, however.
Pre-Impressions
Lekkerimäki, played a good game - played well in his own zone and in the neutral zone. Didn't look as dominant as last night in the O-zone. But, that's new kid NHL B2B stuff. No worries. He has the smarts to work out where to be when playing with Pete and Jake.
Räty didn't have as dominant a game as last night. Sherwood and PDG showed some chemistry and chaos-causing forechecking.
Good to see Pete on the ice. Obviously didn't get a chance over the summer to bump up his lower body strength, so his skating is still slow(ish) and his board-work is the usual, Up-Down-Up pattern. No worries, as his elite Alien hockey sense is still fun to watch. Even if it costs millions and millions more.
Overall, a pretty big game in a small rink. Sure seems we have more scoring depth in this season's depth scoring. The Big D held their own too... while Quinn just broke ankles and looked like he's ready for the playoffs already.
Video Replay
No Shortie coverage tonight. Only Batch, but not heard on this rink-sound only AHL replay, until Cowplugs score.
GAME STATS
PLAYERS 'N TACO TALK
Sassy is on the mic.
Sherwood is already contributing... to the Nucks.
Sprong speaks, not just on the ice.
DeBrusk making an impact already.
Taco Talks Tough about speed, shape and stuff.
Two preseason games, two preseason wins and all the points and glory that goes with it. How glorious!
Next game, the Nucks have to fly over a big mountain range to play in the old SaddleBarn on Friday. Enjoy the preseason as it will over soon enough. Ok, maybe not as soon as we'd like, but before you know, it will be May and our drinking binges will be in fine shape.
