Last night was the first time I've ever seen a team being given a free power play on account of a... procedural error by the refs. What gets me is that they were telling Hitchcock that it was a "new rule", which sounds like something they were pulling out of their asses. :P

Ryane Clowe is looking more and more like 2002 Thorty to me. Err, in terms of how he plays, not like physical resemblance. :P I wonder if this is just a flash in the pan, like when he scored all those goals in pre-season then did nothing in the regular season before he was sent down, or whether he'll continue to put up points on a somewhat consistent basis. I don't expect him to keep up with his 5 goals in 2 games pace or anything, but I just want him to not go completely dry.

I would never have expected Christian Ehrhoff to get a Gordie Howe hat trick. Like, when he dropped the gloves, that #10 just didn't register in my mind. I mean, normally I know right away that's Ehrhoff, but some other part of my brain blocked it from registering. So the two guys on our team who have Gordie Howe hat tricks now are Patty and Ehrhoff. WTF?!

The next game against the Oilers (which I'm going to! *squeaks*) will be an interesting one. They have Hemsky and Smyth back now, and their PK is near the top of the league. I think it's unlikely that the Sharks are going to have three sets of trigger happy refs in a row, so it should probably come down to more of a 5 on 5 game, which will be a nice difference. :P I'm wary of depending/expecting the power play to perform.

Anyway, I guess we thank the Coyotes, and the Coyotes thank us.