"Yes, they were 7-0-0 in the pre-season. Yes, they looked very good. Dare we say exceptional on occasion? Calgary Flames coach Brent Sutter, though, is way too smart to be drawn into any of that stuff. Which he made abundantly clear following Thursday's morning skate. "We had a good exhibition . . . and we did a lot of good things," Sutter, game-day snarl in place, had deadpanned. "So let's just carry on from that. We know the game's going to pick up tenfold. "Let's be prepared for that and we'll be fine." That turned out be the problem. They were not prepared for that. They were not fine. They failed to keep pace with the bright-eyed Edmonton Oilers' youngsters. Riding a rip-snorter of a first period — and a smashing two-goal third period from Jordan Eberle — the Oilers drop-kicked the Flames 4-0 in National Hockey League lid-lifting action Thursday at Rexall Place. "Obviously, it was a tough first period — we got five (power plays) against us," said Flames captain Jarome Iginla. "They were ready to go. We knew they'd come out with a push. We weren't as ready in the first period. "But I thought (Miikka Kiprusoff) played great. He gave us a chance at 1-0. And in the second, we had a really good period. But, unfortunately, we could get 'em by (Nikolai Khabibulin). I thought we flipped the way the first and second periods went."" http://www.calgaryherald.com/sports...s fall fleet footed Oilers/3640909/story.html
