TropicalFruitGirl26

Yea....proposal was so unbelievably a no-brainer, that I can see why Holland barely had time to put on his bathrobe and slippers before he slam hit "accept" on that deal.... all the while laughing like a maniac.... The cook caught him COMPLETELY by surprise when he told him Calgary was on the other line...……

Dumba just blasted Letang against the boards....nice.

Refs didn't see it as contact by the Pens.....challenge fails.... PP Pittsburgh. Salt in the wound...

Wow...waived off goal #2 Hartman is arguing that he was taken into the goalie.

Wild pushing a bit now...a few nice chances. Don't mean much if they can't convert, I know...but at least guys are still pushing.

Atta boy Spurge. Got one back. 5-2 Pens now in the closing minutes of the 2nd. Stalock will SURELY hold the fort...…. But if not....maybe the Wild can just 'sell out', not worry about D and turn this into a track meet....not much more to lose at this point.

Hang on guys....don't go yet... It's Alex Stalock to the rescue.....

3-1 Pitts..... Time to start pestering...…….

Well, if they aren't gonna score conventionally, pestering might be the way to go. And Hornqvist is no ordinary pest....he contributes on the scoreboard as well. The PERFECT man the opposition loves to hate.

Hornqvist continuing to Hornqvist…. Where can the Wild find a royal pain in the &^% like that? Could use one of those.....

Hornqvist gonna Hornqvist. It's what he does.

Talk about saved by the whistle the Pens were. Nice energy shown by the 4th line. Do it again! Pens' confidence should be fragile.

Home opener, against a beat up Pens team. NOW would be a good time for the Wild to get their first win of the season.

In all seriousness, I was one of those who also thought that if one of Neal-Lucic was going to rebound, it would be Neal. Not all sure why he wasn't successful in Calgary, but JR made some pretty sound observations as to possible causes. Neal is and always has been the more complete hockey player of the two, like him or not. I will add that perhaps team style might have something to do with it. Calgary, at their core, have always been a defense first type team. Sure, they have more offensive players now than they have had in recent years, but still, the team identity, and one where they play their best is defense and goaltending, backed up by strong a strong attack style..particularly from the blue line. To me, that pretty much leaves Neal out of most equations there....unless he quickly adapts to that, which he obviously didn't. Pittsburgh, Nashville once they moved away from the older Trotz system, Vegas, and now Edmonton. All highly offensive (or at least, have the idea to play that way), all more about the attack with perhaps putting defense secondary (basically betting that the goalie can just take care of himself), and playing with fantastic like-minded linemates who all want to play that north-south style....with a coach that encourages it. That suits Neal just fine. Then there is health of course. Will Neal continue the way he has been playing? Well the numbers he is putting up are downright ridiculous.....he can't possibly maintain that for an entire season. So no...he won't keep up that pace. But can he still have a fine year, help bolster the Oilers, and put up the kinds of numbers people are used to seeing from him? Absolutely. As long as he stays healthy, I don't see why not. Playing alongside three of the NHL's best forwards and with a backend lead by Nurse that is slowly coming around won't hurt his chances of doing so either.

I dunno….. I think a knee on knee would be more appropriate