What was that??

Sloppy

Discombobulated

Ramshackle

Clusterf@ck

Chaotic

Slapdash

Calamitous

Erratic

Berserk

I pulled out the thesaurus.com to find words like sloppy to describe last night's game.  Sloppy alone doesn't seem to cover it.  Yes, there was obviously a problem with the ice, especially by the 3rd period.  It was like human bumper cars with all the falling bodies out there.  But that doesn't excuse the rest of the chaotic play.

Passes were all over the place, players were all over the place, it was bedlam.  I'm sure he'll get there, but Comrie was making me nervous all night.  He got lucky, very lucky, in the first with the goal posts and help from his defense, but I admit I cringed every time the Hawks were buzzing around his net.

I did a double-take at the score sheet, Captain Suds was a +4 and his D partner Mitch Topping was a +3.  They're lucky in that sense that +/- isn't affected by power play goals since both of Rattie's goals were on the PP.  Meanwhile, Yuen and his D pairing Plutnar were both a -2.  It's been a very long time since I've seen Zachary struggle so much.  I'm not trying to single him out, it was a bad game from the top of the roster to the bottom.  

Hopefully it's a wakeup call that they all have to play 60 minutes, not just sit back on a 5-goal lead.

Not a good game for my Malted Milk Balls, nor for Big Mess.  Whatever kept him out of pre-season obviously sidelined him and he's trying to get back in game shape.  I hope it happens sooner rather than later, I have high hopes/expectations for him this year.

The few positives to take away from the game include, of course, Connor Rankin and his natural hat-trick in under 2 minutes.  That was pretty hot.  By the time Portland figured out what was going on he'd score another one.  Then another one.  He almost got a 4th after the faceoff following his hattie, but Hawks were able to stop him.  I just remember shouting "LOOK OUT HERE HE COMES!"  He earned first star of the game, and first star over at Buzzing the Net:

No. 1 star: Connor Rankin, Tri-City Americans (WHL)
There is nothing in the BTN stylebook that any player who allows us to make a Colton Yellow Horn reference will get a star, but it might as well be. Rankin, the Ams' 16-year-old centre, scored a natural hat trick in a span of 1:53 to give Tri-City the juice to outlast the Portland Winterhawks 6-5.

The Ams led 2-0 entering the second period. Rankin scored twice in the first two minutes to chase Winterhawks goalie Brendan Burke from his first WHL start. Nine seconds after the North Vancouver native's second goal, Mason Wilgosh hit Rankin with a perfect pass and he beat replacement Mac Carruth.

Rankin also had a helper to finish with four points; as you probably guessed, the last American to score a natural hat trick was Yellow Horn, whose final junior season was in 2007-08.  (BTN)

I'm liking Mackenzie Royer more and more, he's shaping up to be this years' unsung hero if he keeps that up.  Considering how the game went I'm also quite impressed with Brian Williams.  Holy crap can that kid skate.  I don't know that I've seen anyone that fast since Erik Felde.  Four helpers for Adam Hughesman ain't too shabby either.

I stayed for the skate so I didn't get to hear the post-game show, I can't imagine coach was very happy.  You wouldn't know it by the Herald though:

"It's always entertaining. The fans get their money's worth," said Americans coach Jim Hiller, whose team opened its season 2-0-0-0. "What you saw, clearly, was we get a couple of goals -- bang-bang -- and thought it was over. They got a couple short-handed, and we had to scratch and claw at the end. We shouldn't have expected anything less."

"It's exciting," Rankin said of his accomplishment. "I can't thank Hughesman and (Mason) Wilgosh enough -- without them, I have no goals. The first one I saw the puck come out and the whole net was open. That was easy. The second was a breakaway pass from Hughesman and the third was off a terrific pass from Wilgosh. Sometimes it's better to be luck than good."

"We handled ourselves pretty well," Rankin said of the third. "Any time you are up 5-0 and they come back is scary. You learn from that -- next time it could be worse."  (Herald)

There'd better not be a next time like that one.