FINALLY! I make it out to the SASC for the first time in a few weeks, and get to see an "instant classic" against the longtime rivals from the west. Right from the beginning, this had the makings of a playoff game, and the intensity carried right through the final whistle, earning the Scorpions two critical points. With Corpus Christi's 4-1 win over Rio, it's basically a win-out situation for the Scorps, but I'm sure Randy Murphy has his guys taking it one game at a time, and that's exactly what they did last night.
Observations:
- Joel Gistedt was 3-0 against the Scorps going into last night, with a goals-against of 3.33. In case you were wondering, Amarillo is the only other team against which Gistedt has multiple wins. But for a guy who's taken a lot of heat this year, the young Sweded certainly defied his critics (and his pointstreak stats). At one point early in the second period, the shots were 20-5 in favor of the Scorpions, but Gistedt simply stole the show. He absolutely robbed Craig Macdonald on two separate occassions, both on bang-bang plays to the side of the net. You certainly can't fault Gistedt with the two goals he did give up
- Aside from the flurry of activity in the game's opening minutes, Kyle McNulty was probably rather bored through the first two periods. Granted, that's a good thing. But when the Scorpions needed him most, McNulty stepped up in a big way, as he has all season long. He played a pheomenal third period in a game that very well could have gone either way.
- Pat Allen said it best in the 3-Star selection: you wouldn't expect anything less from Chris Robertson in a game like this. That was an MVP-worthy performance from the Scorps' top center in just about every department. He won timely draws, he played both ends of the ice, he threw his weight around (and dropped 6'4" Joel Irving on his wallet) and, most importantly, he made a great individual effort to open the scoring.
- About the only thing you really have to question last night was the Scorpions' powerplay. They were going up against the league's worst penalty kill, and they simply got outworked. The puck movement was there, but the player movement was not. Everything looked completely stale. If you look at any top powerplay unit, you'll see how dynamic those 5 guys look out there. The Colorados and the Odessas are constantly cycling around and creating passing lanes for themselves rather than waiting.
