First Period: I always feel oddly freaked out when I know the person who sings the national anthem for some reason. ... Couple good saves from each goalie in the first few minutes, but not much else going on until Kozak absolutely plastered one of the Oilers with his elbow, then Erick Lizon jumped off the bench to duel with Chris Kovalcik. I don't think Kovalcik landed a single punch, but he did get Lizon to the ice first...and was promptly flipped over onto his own back. Five minutes in the box for both. ... Matt Miller just broke away and drew a penalty call to get a penalty shot at 6:19 in the period. Let's see how he does. ... Miller was distracting me with his deking so much I'm not entirely sure if St. Pierre deflected his shot or if it just went off the glass from the stick. ... It has to hurt to make a bunch of good saves then have the puck get by you when you're being screened by your own defenseman and think he blocked it, and that is what just happened to St. Pierre. Bucks lead 1-0 at 7:37 in the period on a goal by Kozak, his 20th of the season. Dixon has the only assist right now. ... Sebastien Centomo, Bobby Russell and one of the inactive Oilers are all up in the press box right now. As we know Russell is out for at least 30 days, I guess Centomo is the guy to keep an eye on, and he doesn't appear to be limping or anything. ... The Oilers have tied it up at 10:18 in the period on a goal by Sean Collins, assisted by Beausoleil. Not really sure what happened there, other than Martin ending up on his stomach in front of the net with the puck inside it. ... These Oilers sure are big on fights, eh? Ryan James Hand and Kevin Hansen, who accrued a lot of fighting penalties last night, got tangled up then started brawling, which prompted a skirmish between Bobby Reed and Kozak. Kozak nailed him in the side of the skull to knock him out, but pretty much everyone attending this game is sitting right in front of the press box and blocked my view of that other fight. That whole series of events may have started due to some shoving on Dixon. ... Wayne Bonney is back in Laredo tonight after checking out last night's game in the Valley, and he agreed with me that the refs were pretty slow getting things started up again. ... Interesting. Hansen only got a roughing call to accompany the fighting majors on everyone else involved, so the Oilers are on the game's first power play. ... Okay, now Hand's has been changed to a roughing double-minor, which explains the duration of the power play. ... Lizon was serving Hand's penalty, and I'm pretty sure Hand is in the dressing room. Trainer Bobby Moore just came back out from there, so cross your fingers that he didn't break something again. ... Dmytruk just tripped Miller behind the Oilers' net to put the Bucks on their first power play at 14:18. ... Well, before the PA announcer could finish telling the crowd about the penalty, Darryl Smith sent the puck home. I'm not even sure how that got in, but Dube has the assist. Bucks lead 2-1 at 14:35 in the period. ... The Bucks have taken a 3-1 lead at 17:01 in the period on a goal that is being credited to Dixon but left all the Bucks on the ice congratulating Lizon. I'm confused, and my vision is even worse when I'm sickly, so I guess I shouldn't argue. Dube on the assist. ... Guess Hand is okay, as he just got called for slashing to put the Oilers back on the power play at 17:35. ... End of the first, Bucks lead 3-1 and are up 18-12 on shots. It's worth noting that four of the Oilers' came on that last power play, though. ... Lizon got the primary assist on that Dixon goal eventually.
Second Period: Devin Featherstone is headed to the box for cross checking at 2:54 to give the Oilers the first power play of the period. ... It appears the minimal positive effects of the DayQuil I took earlier are wearing off, and I think my fever is making me too delirious to follow everything the way I should be. My apologies. The Bucks did kill that penalty off, though. ... It seems the Bucks have a thing for wasting chances at their own end then getting caught behind the play and taking penalties on the other side. Miller to the box for hooking this time. ... This time, it came back to bite them as Jereme Tendler whipped one past Martin. Bucks' lead is now 3-2 at 7:07 in the period. ... The board says the Oilers are still on the power play, but that doesn't make much sense, and there are five Bucks on the ice, so let's go with no. ... Goupil just got a breakaway chance but sent his shot right into St. Pierre and had the rebound overskated by Smith. Goupil did draw a hooking call against Cody Hamilton, though, so the Bucks are now on their first advantage of the period. ... Brent Cullaton has replaced Adam Rivet on one of the points for the top power-play unit, meaning there are four forwards on the ice for the Bucks in Agarunov, Cullaton, Goupil and Smith. ... Cullaton stayed out for that entire power play and thensome. Guess he doesn't tire easily. ... Ryan Salvis just had a wide-open net with St. Pierre caught outside it but chose to shoot the puck directly at Seibel's nether regions instead. ... Cullaton just stole the puck, centered it to Goupil, who then took a shot and had Vincent Zaore-Vanie there to swing at the rebound. The puck shot out again on St. Pierre's next save, and Smith tried to chase it but was promptly tackled by Hansen, who is seriously one easy man to offend. No calls came out of that, but it could foreshadow some more freaking out later in the game. ... In a move eerily similar to the end of the second period of last night's Penguins-Blue Jackets game, Coach Ruskowski just pulled Martin for the final 0.4 seconds of the period with the faceoff upcoming in the Oilers' zone. Nothing doing. Bucks still lead 3-2, and shots are now 26-17.
Third Period: Bucks get the first power play of the period pretty early as Riddle is in the box for slashing just 49 seconds in. ... The Brahmas have lost, which means if the Biucks hold on and win here they'll be 1o points back in the race for first place. Not sure 10 points back is where you really want to be at this point in the season. ... St. Pierre just lost the puck underneath himself and is lucky none of the Bucks noticed its exact location because that could have been painful for him. ... Further proof that fevers affect your brain: Kozak is actually the one who left the ice after that multi-player brawl earlier in the game. Oops. He has not come back. ... Tendler has tied the game on his second of the night on a flukey goal that saw the puck kind of roll on and over Martin. This is a team that lost 7-2 last night, keep in mind, and they threatened to tie it up several times before actually coming through with that goal. Score is 3-3 with 11:20 to play in the game. Kovalcik has the assist on that one. ... Someone just pretty much covered St. Pierre with his own net by flipping it over his head. Very strange. ... Now that it's back at even, the Oilers are flying around out there, which isn't to say their effort wasn't pretty intense to begin with. ... I love how people here see a red light and start throwing corn even when the ref has clearly signaled no goal. Apparently the Bucks have already gotten warned about this stuff tonight; they might end up getting fined. ... I'm thinking this is going to end too late for me to go downstairs for interviews after (and I'm guessing Ruskowski will high-tail it out of here as soon as he finishes yelling at the team), but you can guess what he'd have to say. Apparently Mike Millbury says the Penguins need passion, but I'd say the Bucks need it a little bit more. Of course, that isn't to say I don't want the Pens to be passionate. ... Are people throwing stuff at the Oiler's bench now? I guess Hamilton just got hurt a bit but appears to be fine. ... That Kozak fight was just named play of the game, which leads me to wonder if the people who decide those things realize the team may have lost another scoring threat to injury because of it. ... What a time for Zaore's first goal of the season. He has given the Bucks the lead back with 4:58 to play. That was what I would call a very nice wraparound. Not exactly what you would expect for a defenseman's first goal, but I'm sure it'll do, at least if they can keep the lead. ... Oilers coach Tony Martino has taken a timeout with 1:22 to play. St. Pierre will be pulled. ... Salvis missed the empty net by a couple inches, but the Oilers could not get the puck to net, even with an extra attacker. Ruskowski cannot be pleased that a game against a team with four road wins all season came that close.
Game Over: Bucks win 4-3, improve to 26-15-4 (56 points) and move within 10 of the Brahmas. Good for Zaore for getting that goal, but those poor Oilers looked devastated. I guess you can't expect your goalie to do everything, though, and they were outshot 41-23. Word on the street (or from Bryan Benway's postgame) is that Kozak will be missing some time. That's exactly what the Bucks need, eh?
Other Scores: Mudbugs 4, Brahmas 1; Eagles 6, Blazers 3; Thunder 6, Jackalopes 5 (OT); Killer Bees 3, IceRays 2; Gorillas 6, Sundogs 3; Scorpions 4, Rush 3 (F-SO).
NHL Scores: Flyers 4, Bruins 3 (OT); Ducks 2, Flames 1; Red Wings 8, Oilers 3; Maple Leafs 5, Canadiens 2; Senators 3, Sabres 2 (SO); Kings 3, Devils 1; Capitals 3, Panthers 1; Blue Jackets 3, Sharks 2 (OT); Lightning 1, Islanders 0; Blues 4, Avalanche 1; Hurricanes 7, Coyotes 2; Canucks 7, Blackhawks 3.
1 comment:
Geez, How long will Kozak be out? Another Buck player to the MASH unit. This must be driving Rosco and the team crazy.
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