I think Blaze got off lightly over the 60 minutes as we were by far the better team and bossed them for long periods and they couldn't get the puck off us.A terribly soft pen on Hotham in the first minute or so gave them an early PP when Pacquet has lost and edge yet we got called I think for a x-check.Blaze capitalised and their early goal made a few of us worried they would build early momentum but we came straight back at them.
As seems often the case their NM was standing on his head and even though we ended 1 down after the first we could have been a couple up as we also missed several great chances.The lines looked a little confused initially as lots of stay passes but we settled and the new pairings started to look more comfortable.
Pleasing we played 4 lines though out and Batch,Myers,Faryna,Pope and even Crowder were throwing some big hits and we were playing with an edge and not allowing Blaze to get under our skins as a few of their guys were trying to take liberties as lots of crap going on behind the play in the first.
Fournier was unplayable and had the puck glued to his stick as time after time he danced into the zone and created chance after chance.Bowns was rock solid too when called on and once we got one goal we were always going to go on and win.
We took control in the second and Blaze were looking more and more tired and our talent showed.They retook the lead when the goal was off and they tucked it in.Technically it went in after the goal moved but it looked good to me and would have gone in anyway so right call.
We looked good on the PP which is encouraging this time of year and keeping the lines rolling kept everyone fresh.Key point of the match was when Blaze had a 5 on 3 for well over a minute yet we defended like warriors and all 3 PKs at one point were laying on the ice having desperately blocked shots.Pretty sure it was Richie,Strachan & Morissette and after they refused to be beaten we went straight back on the offensive and killed the game.
Very frustrating and inconsistent refereeing as you would expect them to put the whistles away this time of year and only call really bad infractions yet they called many soft ones and let more blatant ones go.
If we play the same tonorrow we can put 7 on them as we coasted after the fourth.Hopefully though we play like it's 0-0 and get the first goal so they may drop their heads.Don't allow them to get back in the tie and we need our fans to be like the second leg against Sheffield.Blaze home crowd was surprisingly quiet but I'm sure their big away following will believe they can pull it back and get behind them
One last home game of the year,let's sign off with a win and try and put this bloody 19 year wait behind us once and for all.