Let me get this out of the way first: listening to the execrable Millen tonight, I was reminded of a little blurb by The Sports Guy on Thursday:

This sounds like one of those Paul Maguire arguments where he makes up the argument with himself -- "I'm gonna tell you right now, that was pass interference, that was definitely pass interference ... watch this replay ... wait, that was not pass interference!"

I felt that way about Millen tonight, except that when the replay ran and showed the opposite of what he was saying, or was totally inconclusive, he wouldn't argue with himself. Yelle for goalie interference? Was there actual contact between Yelle and Auld? And that bit where he was clearly pleased with himself for smacking down Mick McGeough's overheated goal-waving-off: jeez. Millen thought the puck was under Kiprusoff the whole time. Then the replays show the puck going in the net barely after the whistle, and Millen is still cracking on Magoo. "Trying to be the show", eh Millen? Takes one to know one, I suppose.

Anyway, I thought this was the best, most exciting game I've seen all year. There was plenty of scoring chances, and plenty more good D. The refs weren't ignoring obstruction, but they were allowing aggressive play, which is great as far as I'm concerned. Chalk me up, I suppose, as one of the fans who doesn't think more scoring and more entertainment necessarily go hand-in-hand.

• I love the way Special Ed plays. I'd take him on my team any time. (That said, the best part of the Game 7 OT win last spring was Ed leaving the penalty box, after his spazz attack in there when the Canucks scored the equalizer with 6 seconds left in regulation).
• Ohlund is also a hell of a player. I mentioned in the comments to the last post, during the game, what a key matchup that was during the '04 playoffs, and Ohlund really did a great job. The thing was, after 6 games of heavy Flames forechecking, in Game 7 Ohlund was bagged. He had battled Iginla tremendously well during the series, and he wasn't "bad" in Game 7, but by that point Iginla had the physical/energy edge, and he had his finest game as an NHLer.
• Langkow and Amonte both have great hands about half the time; it's incredible that they're never at the same time. At least one of those guys is fumbling the puck on just about every shift they take.
• There was four (4) fights in the game tonight. None of them were super notable, but it's an interesting stat (Blueshirt Bulletin noted the first Rangers fight of the season in the post-mortem of the Thursday game -- their 14th of the year)
• I don't have all the behind-the-scenes info, but whichever Flame was responsible for ensuring that the name of Markus Naslund just about never passed the lips of Jim Hughson, well, they deserve a bonus
• Kelly Hrudey and I apparently had the same thought at the end of the 2nd: we expected that Bertuzzi getting his helmet blasted off on a hard hit by Warrener might wake him up. We were wrong. It was hard to remember, watching Bertuzzi blah around the ice, why there was once a debate over whether he or Iginla was the best "power" forward in the league. The most damning evidence of Bertuzzi's play, tonight for sure, is that the Calgary fans had little or no enthusiasm for booing him.

The Flames are now 5-1-1 at home, 6-1-1 on TV, and 4-0-0 at home vs. the Northwest Division. All these things bode well for the rematch on Monday.

And I'm damn interested to read Tom's take on this game.