Edmonton Oilers Sluggish as Chicago Blackhawks Crush Them, 9- 2

Everybody just loves to talk about Glenn Anderson.

The old Oiler would scoop up all of the remnants of a Kurri, Gretzky, Tikkanen, or a blast from Coffey.

This would occur late in a game; with your lovable team down 6-1 at the Northlands.

Anderson comes sweeping in, burying a goal past some stiff like Sidorkiwiecz or Beaupre.

And there he is.

Waving his arms like a freaking cross traffic cop at Addison and Clark on gameday. Like he just won the flipping Super Bowl.

And you wonder why I enjoyed tonight so much.

There were the Oiler fans giving their team the Bronx Cheer as the Blackhawks ran up and down the ice to a convincing 9-2 win in Edmonton, tonight.

Nobody can run on this team, folks. Not a god damn one.

Craig MacTavish spent most of the pregame talking about tempo. The only tempo the Oil dictated was the flow of cars pouring out of Rexall after only two periods of play.

Nikolai Khabibulin was an absolute star tonight.

Mathieu Garon wore a mask that had Grant Fuhr and Bill Ranford's face painted on each side. Creepy, right?

I'm not a sure a six-armed Fuhr/Ranford/Garon octopi would've stopped the Hawks tonight.

Marty Havlat has somehow mixed Goulet's open ice vision with a teaspoon of Larmer's willingness to chip it in behind the net.

Brian Campbell ripped a shot that would've made poor Paul Coffey blush in embarassment.

Andrew Ladd pushed a puck down the ice so fast, that the rebound off Garon came right back to him...and then he shoveled the puck to an open Fraser for a 2-0 lead.

Then came Campbell's blast.

Then more goals, and more.

Troy Brouwer turned into Frenchy Fuqua and caromed a goal into the net. Many wondered about James Wisniewski after a long stint on the IR.

Three assists.

Why not? Right?

Why not just get three assists after coming off the IR? I mean, you don't have anything else better to do, right?

It all reminds me of looking at the Candyland board game when I was four years old.

Candyland looked like the perfect place to live. Who wouldn't want to live around candy canes and gingerbread houses?

The Northlands Coliseum when it featured Gretzky, Tikkanen, Kurri, Anderson, Coffey...that was Candyland.

Today, it's teams like the Blackhawks getting that ninth goal. All the while pounding their fist, and taking a nice big bite of the gingerbread's head.