The Calgary Hitmen opened their 1st round playoff series with the Edmonton Oil Kings on Thursday night, taking a 5-0 win over their provincial rivals. It was a game that had it’s good moments, but after the game, both Calgary players and coaches knew they were capable of much better.
Head Coach Dave Lowry admitted that his team was probably nervous heading into the first postseason game of the year. Edmonton had momentum, as they played just 2 days before; a 1 game playoff win over Prince Albert. The Oil Kings were skating early while Calgary came out a little flat, and a result, the Hitmen took the first 3 penalties of the game. Calgary’s penalty kill finished perfect, killing off all 8 situations, but the consensus was, too many trips to the box.
Calgary was able to slowly take control of this game however, scoring late in the 1st period and 3 more times in the middle frame to take control. The team that was 48-1 leading after 40 minutes in the regular season made it 1-0 in the postseason, scoring once more en route to the 5-0 victory. I liked how Calgary was able to adjust from the sloppy sort of mistakes they were making in the opening frame. Passes were going awry, there were too many giveaways at the line, and there was a general consensus that this wasn’t how they wanted to start the game.
2 things pop out from the game. First, Calgary knows they can’t start games like that. Had the Oil Kings had any more finish, they could have taken a 1 or 2 goal lead early. Second, it’s kinda scary that we’re talking about a team wanting to improve after a very one-sided game. Game 2 will be very interesting to see how much jump the Hitmen come out with. Joel Broda finished with 3 points while Martin Jones posted the shutout. Game 2 is Sunday at 2 pm on The FAN 960 (1 pm pregame).
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