Game One: Teams A-Blazin'

After last night's game one of the Stanley Cup finals all I can say is 'Wow'! If the intensity of the game 1 keeps pumping through the veins of both teams there's going to be some good television on CBC the next few nights.

My thoughts after watching Carolina's come from behind shocker is that they have to be very very pleased with themselves coming out a winner. And I mean not so much stealing the hockey game but getting lucky now that Dwayne Roloson is no longer in the series. Will this advantage work out the same way as Koivu's injury did against Montreal in Round 1? We'll see, but there is plenty of reason not to think otherwise. Roloson has been Edmonton's best player in the post season narrowly edging Pronger, Pisani, and Horcoff for that honour, and the scariest thing Oilers' fans saw last night was the Marc-Andre Bergeron hit from behind on Andrew Ladd that did more damage to his goaltender, and the hopes of the Edmonton Oilers winning a Stanley Cup.

I was surprised at how calm and composed GM Kevin Lowe and Coach Craig McTavish were after the game knowing that Roloson would be unable to play again this series. And I was even more shocked that both of them alluded to that point, and did not teasingly disclose the severity of the injury.

The reason why both Lowe and McTavish are optimistic is because of what they saw their club do on the ice Monday. The Oilers were the better team, out skating and outshooting the Canes. The Oilers seemed to have the quicker step and their forechecking was working really well, and that's what got them a 3-0 lead midway into the second period. It wasn't so much that the Oilers broke down at times to let the game slip away, as it was the Hurricanes jumping on and executing every oppurtunity they had, which evidently, wasn't a whole lot.

Special teams was a big factor, and it seemed to shift the tide in the third period. After Ray Whitney's first goal put the Canes behind 3-2, the power play went to work shortly after and Whitney collected his second goal tying the game at 3 a piece. The Oilers came right back on the power play narrowly missing oppurtunities, but got a little sloppy at the Canes blueline which led to Justin Williams' short-handed breakaway marker to put Carolina up for the first time in the hockey game. Ales Hemsky finished off the special teams statsheet with a power play goal a few minutes later to make the game tied again. The key going into game 2 and for the rest of the series is the execution on the power play for both teams and staying out of the penalty box, because right now the gunners for the Canes and Oilers are firing on all four cylinders.