Game two is but hours away and the Calgary Flames have a chance to take a two game lead to open this series against a Vancouver Canucks squad who I offered would be a rather equal match up.
And while I broke down the two teams over a blog a few days ago which essentially went on to say that this series will certainly be a flip of the coin, it appears that the Flames and their fans think otherwise.
“Those guys are unbelievable,… offered Flames coach Bob Hartley. “They always find a way.… The coach is surprised, the fans are content and things are going quite well. Tonight will be a big game for the boys as two back to back wins on the road coming back to the Saddledome would be huge. In fact, it could allow for a sweep as the Flames fan above offered (will) happen.
In terms of team news, Sean Monahan has finally declared that he is in fact (not) injured rather a little under the weather. How this illness will affect his performance tonight is left to be seen, but the coaching staff have offered that the young forward has received plenty of rest and is not going to let this hold him back.
To add to all this excitement, each respective team’s mayor have publicly announced a friendly bet, as per the below.
1. Losing mayor must wear winning team's jersey at council meeting. 2. Losing mayor will donate five pounds of food for every goal scored by the winning team to their local food bank. 3. Losing mayor must read a poem written by winning mayor at the start of council meeting.
"I think 'Canucks and sucks' is too obvious," offered Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi about the haiku he's planning to pen.
There is certainly some rivlarly being redeveloped between these two fan bases which many felt had all but died over the past couple of years. If their last game didn’t disprove that sentiment in a matter of moments, I’m sure the amount of trash talking between both fan bases should certainly help.
In terms of players to look out for, I’m excited to see what Sam Bennett can do in his second playoff game after surprising the masses with his ability and, well, confidence on the ice. Given how hard the rookie played and what he offered in terms of offensive capabilities, we can only assume that there will be more attention paid to Bennett tonight as the Canucks defense try and show him down.
The nice thing, however, is that Bennett doesn’t plan on slowing down!
"He wanted to make our team, so bad pain is not a problem," Hartley said. "Once we got him checked by our team doctors and the specialist, there was no way that he could keep going without surgery. That's the kind of player we need in this organization if we are going to make great strides forward. Yes, you need talent, you need speed, but you need character, and this kid is full of dynamite."
"Fearless is part of his personality," Hartley said.
"I have a lot of confidence in myself," Bennett said. "I wasn't afraid to make mistakes in the offensive zone. I'm a guy who's going to take the puck to the net and I'm not going to shy away from anyone. I definitely didn't try to change anything in my game and I just did my thing [Wednesday]."
As mentioned, I expect the guys to hit the ice with a ton of speed and energy. A quick goal and or a couple of big hits should help deflate the Canucks as they look to get the ball rolling, but they cannot at any point underestimate what the experience and talent level of this Vancouver group can do.
Thanks for reading!