Great game. Rexall would have absolutely exploded if Pronger had scored (which he did in the Joey Moss game). Wow it was loud.
But Schremp was easily the best player on the ice for both teams. Had Sauve continued his play and not been swapped out midway through the second, he probably would have been a star too.
I felt Calgary for the most part was outplayed, and they even failed to convert on 3 separate 5-3 powerplays. But it's not the full Calgary team, so I'm not going to hold it against them. A team with Iginla is automatically way better on the powerplay.
I was also impressed with Laraque. He was very active, and even FAST (?!?!?!). He played a very physical game, was actively forechecking (and often still the first backchecker back), and even saw a ton of icetime while 4 on 4 (WTF?!?!??!?!). It looks like he came into camp in excellent shape.
I was also happy with Bergeron. Very fast and active, and not afraid to let lose his shot. Stoll was also solid.
Still not sold on Horcoff, though I would love him to have a breakout year! He did very poorly in the faceoff circle (Schremp and Stoll did quite well though), and had a medicore game IMO.
Cross is definitely on the outside looking in IMO. He had trouble maintaining control of the puck, took bad penalties, and to be honest I felt Syvret played a way better game. There was one perfect scenario where Cross could have easily pinched up to maintain possession, but didn't both going for it. The situation was made very clear when the next time up, the EXACT same situation happened, and Pronger was the one and he pinched up, got a pass to Smyth who almost scored on a wrap around.
Speaking of Pronger, you could see him helping out Bergeron on the ice, particularly at the face of circle. Here's hoping his Dman leadership spreads to Semenov (who had an average game...did well on the PK though) as well. There was a few times when the "twin towers" were on the ice though
I honestly expected more penalties though. There were still situations that seemed just as clutch and grab, but they definitely were calling the questionable stickwork of some players (in addition to Stoll plastering some guy face first into the boards in a brutal checking from behind....if he hadn't ripped a beauty PP one-timer and had a good game up until then, I would have been very unhappy...at least he had instensity I guess).
It was perfect having Smytty score though