5	4	3	4	4		3
	2	0	4	1	5		2

If you follow me on Twitter — and why wouldn’t you? — you’re already familiar with today’s embed. I don’t wish ill on many players, but Matt Cooke is an exception, so seeing him get hit right on the button and dropped like a sack of potatoes warmed my heart. It also has little to do with this game, so let’s move right along.

Last game was an absolute epic choke job. It started off so positively, with everything bouncing Calgary’s way. The first goal came 90 seconds into the game after Mark Isherwood took a penalty off the opening faceoff. While the Tigers got that one back on a power play of their own, just a minute later, Matthew Konan knocked a Tyler Shattock shot into his own net while sprawling to clear it. A few seconds later, Cody Sylvester continued his Fernando Pisani impression with his eighth of the playoffs — after scoring ten in the regular season. Seven minutes in, 3-1 Calgary. Then it all goes off the rails.

It started with the penalties. Shortly before the Shattock goal, there was a penalty shot against because of a Michael Stone slash. Then Kris Foucault took a tripping penalty. Then Sylvester got a double for high sticking. Then — the only real pisser of the bunch — Matt MacKenzie gets tagged for cross-checking while killing Sylvester’s first minor, which while technically a penalty, was a pretty iffy one to be calling under the circumstances. Call it bad game management. The Hitmen killed them all off, and in fact the last kill was done in style: Ian Schultz ate the puck for the last 15 seconds of the MacKenzie penalty, then drew a tripping call on the same sequence, negating the advantage for the last fifty-odd seconds of Sylvester’s second minor. They were hanging in there, and were able to get to the intermission down only 3-1, but you could sense something was up.

Next period should’ve been owned by the Hitmen because they got three consecutive power plays with which to work, but nothing could be done. They seemed a bit nervous, and tried to overdo it on the fancy-ass passing plays. They had a couple of opportunities bounce against them, but they weren’t doing enough with the ones they got on net, and they weren’t getting their rebounds, losing an increasing number of puck races and puck battles as the period progressed. Late in the frame, Medicine Hat’s persistence and superior play were finally rewarded with a pair of goals — the latter of which had to survive video review, as it initially appeared Martin Jones was pushed in with the puck — and we were tied 3-3. Cue the panic in the stands and, presumably, the dressing room.

Sometimes when the guys get to the room at intermission, someone steps up and says something, calms everyone down, rallies the troops, and they come out with renewed vigour after giving up a late-period goal. The easy recent example is the Olympic gold medal game a few weeks ago, in which Canada game up the tying goal to Ryan Kesler with around 25 seconds to go in the third period, but came storming back and won it on a broken play in overtime. This time, however, either no one stepped up, or the message didn’t get through, because the Hitmen went from looking a bit tense to full-on panic, and the Tigers pounced, scoring twice more in the third to take a 5-3 lead. Calgary lost pretty much every race or puck battle that mattered. We in the crowd couldn’t believe the collapse we were seeing. Giffen Nyren made it close on a play we’ve seen from him, Kozun, and Stone a dozen times in these playoffs, but even with the goalie out, the Hitmen couldn’t stay composed and pose a consistent threat. 5-4 is your final.

Tonight’s game carries much higher stakes, simply because the Tigers can now smell blood. They’ve got the Hitmen back on their heels, much as Calgary had the Warriors back on their going back to Moose Jaw last round. This is an experienced playoff team, but not one accustomed to adversity: there are very few players left from the 2007 and 2008 teams that did not have the red carpet laid before them as the 2009 team did. Hopefully, the experience of the first round will serve as a confidence boost, and if that fails, I dunno, look at the fucking standings. You’re better than them, guys. Go out and kick their asses, already. Brandon or Saskatoon await.