Wellllll…Drain the excessive drip from my spit valve! It was a case of the unlucky 14th. After 13 straight wins over the Toilers in the past 5 seasons, the Preds finally lose to the them 5-3 in Smashville yesterday afternoon.
In a case where the Men in Gold were chasing the game much of the time, they simply couldn’t capitalize at key junctures (a couple of posts and some other A-1 scoring chances thwarted by Costco-nun), and also were shorthanded on 7 occasions.
Obviously, the lone bright spot of the matinee was Scoresberg’s 7th career hat trick (3 apples by Joey, and 2 by P.K.), giving him 10 markers in 11 games. Two of them were via the P.P., so that special team area is slowly improving.
The real back-breaker was when Prince Filip had just cut the Boil’s lead in half at 2-1 late in the 2nd period, and the Big House on Broadway was jumping: A mere 7 seconds after the subsequent face-off, McDavid split the D with his blazing speed and scored. ‘Twas a gut punch that vacuumed the air out of the building.
Whatever woes the Oil Slicks had last year seem to have been addressed, and they are a much more balanced and dangerous looking team. I expect them to be in the thick of the playoff chase in the Pacific Division throughout this campaign.
Despite the loss, the M.C. Sabre Cats remain in first place of the Central Division and Western Conference, and are tied with the Maple Leaves for best record in the entire league.
The Smashcats will regroup and prepare to take on the Golden K-Nuggets Tuesday night back at the Quarrytorium. Go get ’em, Preds!