It’s late, the Devils just pulled out a game that they had won, then lost, then won again because Patrik Elias can reshape physics, Brian Gionta’s passes and all bounds of sensibility to score goals. Hockey isn’t well suited to TV, because so much of the play develops away from the puck; it’s a game of position and movement, not of following the puck with a long camera angle. The TV shows you Patrik tipping in Gionta’s pass from along the boards; what you don’t see is that Patrik starts cutting into the slot, anticipating a pass, stick down, ready to make a variety of plays.
The Dec 19 Ottawa game had another moment like that: Elias has the puck down low, and Oduya drops in from the point. The pass from Elias to Oduya was timed so perfectly that even I could have put that one in the net, relying on momentum, simple geometry and elastic collisions to convert puck kinetic energy into fan kinetic energy. What you don’t see on TV is that Elias timed the pass with nothing more than a passing glance at Oduya; it wasn’t enough of a look to make the defense shift or even have a winger drop and follow Oduya. Seriously – Elias gives the Large Hadron Collider a run for the money when it comes to bending space-time in fortuitous ways.
And for those following the home version of Calgary’s game, Mike Cammalleri continues to be the Ex-King of Alberta, netting a hat trick in last night’s game against the Sabres. Eight goals in four games. Kind of like the All-Star Game, except he did it against guys back checking and playing something resembling defense. When the Flames have a playoff game on pesach, I think he gets a matzos pass.
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