Khabibulin Blows It, Give Flames the Win
October 4, 2009 by Jeanne Dupuis
Filed under Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers, Goalies, NHL, Video
It was a big night in my neck of the woods. Last night was the first Battle of Alberta and was the first home game of the season for the Edmonton Oilers. I’m not even going to go into how lame I thought their whole pre-game celebration was (I’m sorry but it was really stupid to me) since I was really just interested in their starting lineup.
image: TSN
After the Calgary Flames were stonewalled by goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin in the Stanley Cup playoffs against the Tampa Bay Lightning, I’ve always hated playing against him. I wanted to see how Miikka Kiprusoff would hold up after such a spectacular start to the season but I really just wanted to see the Flames burn the Oilers.
Things started well for Calgary. We got on the scoreboard just 1:52 into the first when Curtis Glencross easily beat Khabibulin. Surely, that was a fluke, I thought. Edmonton answered with a goal by Dustin Penner but then David Moss scored on Khabi again.
In the second period, each team scored a goal making the score 3-2 in favor of Calgary going into the second intermission. When Sam Gagner tied the game and the clock began to wind down, I got myself ready for overtime but seriously couldn’t believe what happened next.
I’m sitting there with my family watching and with less than a minute left, Khabibulin comes out of the net to try to deal with a bouncing puck only to have it plucked away from him by Moss, who, in one flukey/crazy movement, managed to score on the unmanned net. It took us all a second to register what we’d seen and then we just erupted in laughter – deep, slightly painful, pointing-at-the-screen laughter. I’m serious. I had tears running down my face. Maybe it’s because I hate Edmonton since they are our natural rivals but seeing Sheldon Souray lying facedown as Khabibulin looked down at him in shame still has me chuckling. I’m such an asshole.
Here’s the real kicker – Kiprusoff had to make 31 saves while Khabibulin struggled with 17. Lame. Let’s hope things improve for the newly acquired Edmonton goalie. You gotta watch this video.
