2	4	1			1
	6	0	4			2

Had I known that Cody Sylvester and Victor Rask were injured (along with Rob Trzynkowski and Calder Brooks, but they’re less important), I might have been less enthusiastic about the Hitmen’s chances in the first round. Sure, you hate to use injuries as an excuse, but at the same time, nearly any team in any league would be hard pressed to maintain their customary level with two top-six and four top-nine forwards out of action. The return of Sylvester tonight is cause for hope, to be sure, as it gives at least one or two guys a chance to step back into more comfortable roles. But the bottom line here is, the Hitmen need to get an early lead. They did it in Game 2, forced Brandon to get aggressive, and the longer the game went on, the more unhinged the Wheaties became. While I don’t expect a parade to the box necessarily, forcing Brandon to take more chances is naturally going to create more chances for Calgary: that’s Playing With The Lead 101. We’ve already seen what Brandon’s capable of with an early lead: they’ll let you back into the contest, and after you burn yourself out doing so, they’ll step on your throat in the back half of the game. Yes, they’ve gotten help from the officials in both victories, but even with that factor aside, Calgary’s just looked outmatched and outworked in the latter 30 minutes of both games they’ve lost, and it’s showed in the flurry of late goals (6 GA in the second halves of the two losses).

Break out your cliche-a-tron, because this is the biggest game of the season. A loss tonight, and I’ll be stunned if both teams return from Winnipeg this weekend.

Bold Prediction: A team will open the scoring in the first five minutes, then go on to win by at least three. Go Hitmen.