I didn't so much feel like Matt was going to score tonight as I felt like Corey Crawford was going to have a shitty night. But I figured, I'll throw the prediction out because we might not see a goalie struggle like this for some time to come and what more likely time for Kassian to finally bend the twine?
Not sure why I knew Crawford was vulnerable, but boy did I nail that precognition. But I just had a feeling, watching him in warm-ups, that he wasn't all there, wasn't sharp. And whaddaya know, it was Toskala-esque the way every bad bounce went in on the guy. You could see it in his body language in the third period. He looked frustrated and I think he would have stopped the Kalus breakaway if the prior unlucky bounces hadn't gotten in his head a little bit.
Meanwhile, the exact opposite was happening to Dubielewicz at the other end. That was one of the luckiest goaltending performances I've ever seen. And I appreciated reading his comments after the game wherein he basically said as much, and acknowledged that the shot count was high like that because he was a rebound machine.
But I understand, that's just how it goes sometimes. Some nights every bounce goes against you and some nights, it's all posts and whiffs and good defense. I thought only the third goal, basically in garbage time, was a bad one for Dubie.
What else could the stick figure be tonight than big Matt Kassian finally getting his goal. I did not cry, however, but I did whack John in the arm. He gets that a lot. Sorry John.
Anyway, another fun game by the boys. Really nice to see these chances going in and it must be really gratifying for the work to be paying off on the scoresheet.
See you Sunday!
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