Man, splurged with my lovely gf and went to the game. Was an incredible experience regardless of the result.
We could have won that one. We got a bit gunshy in the 3rd and got f***ed by the refs too.
But I think it's important to remember, again, that we are just learning how to win and crafting an identity. This is a big building season in terms of crafting ourselves an identity, as well as making this a desirable place to play again.
Let's not forget, we are playing a desperate superlative generational player. Like, McDavid will be firmly enshrined in the top 5 players EVER by the time his career is over, and he's never even been to the cup finals.
We are playing a team at the apex of their contender status (who have been mismanaged to hell with the Nurse and Campbell contracts), being driven by an absolute freak who is desperate to augment his legacy with a cup run.
This isn't losing to the 2015 Calgary Flames. This is a team that might only have one or two more kicks at this, with 2 top 5 players in the league, both of whom are top 4 ALL TIME in playoff ppg, playing with absolute desperation.
Might I add, we are facing them with our THIRD string goalie.
We can win this series, but it's not going to be easy and probably requires a favourable timeline where Demko comes back for game 5 after we squeak out a split in Edmonton.
For those blathering on about how much Tocchet sucks, or how much this or that player sucks. I'm going to defer to quoting Patton Oswalt when I say, 'you're going to miss everything cool and die mad'.