Coming off the heels of Monday’s win on home ice, the talk of the town was of the talk on the ice, and the perception of awakening the monster within Jarome Iginla. The posturing from both sides was rampant in the days between games three and four, with those on the Flames side issuing grave warnings of what happens when Iggy gets mad, and the Blackhawks side claiming a job well done by Adam Burish in getting under the skin of the nice guy Flames captain, certain to get him off his game. Not to mention the Flames hope for a suspension for Burish on his late stick breaking cross check on Rene Bourque in game three.
There was just one thing the Blackhawks might have forgotten about. Olli Jokinen is awaking..
On The Line
With the Flames holding momentum after a resounding defeat of the Blackhawks in game three, the Flames confidence was looming large, but heading into Chicago down 3-1 in the series would likely make game five a formality. A win for the Flames and maybe Chicago heads home with doubt in their eyes.
The Flow
Perhaps a slightly tentative start for the Flames as the Blackhawks got off to the early lead when Patrick Sharp went around Adrian Aucoin and slid a pass over to the goldfish-less Patrick Kane who Adam Pardy was watching in awe as he fired a puck over the shoulder of Miikka Kiprusoff for a 1-0 lead. Calgary responded barely a minute later as Jarome Iginla fired his second of the playoffs on a nifty setup just outside the slot from Michael Cammalleri with Jonathan Toews in the box for tripping. The teams would trade chances for the remainder of the period with the Flames looking like the more dangerous team for most of it.
The second started off with a bang for the Flames. Just fifty seconds in Cam Barker whiffed on a cross ice pass and the puck was suddenly on the stick of Olli Jokinen who made absolutely no mistake in roofing a shot past Khabibulin for his first goal on Saddledome ice, and first in seventeen games. Midway through the frame Adrian Aucoin would take a down-low pass from Jokinen, fake a shot, then wrist the puck through a massive screen past a helpless Khabibulin and suddenly the Flames had a two goal lead. But they weren’t done yet. Just over a minute after Aucoin’s goal, Olli Jokinen took the puck from Dion Phaneuf, went around Brent Seabrook and slid a backhand shot past Khabibulin to put the Flames up by three. At this point, with his team on the ropes, his goaltender clearly shaken allowing three goals on five shots, Blackhawks head coach Joel Quenville called a timeout and rallied his troops. On the strength of two power-plays and a turnover by Eric Nystrom in the corner, the Hawks rallied to tie things up. The second goal coming from Calder nominee Kris Versteeg picking up a Brian Campbell point shot rebound, the third Cam Barker driving to the net and slipping a shot through the legs of Kiprusoff and the fourth credited to Sami Pahlsson with Dustin Byfuglyin creating a screen that Curtis Glencross can only shake his head at. Advantage Hawks heading into the third.
Someone turned to me just before the start of the third period and asked me to prognosticate the future. I said: “First goal wins.” If you read the box score of the third period, you might be mislead by the shot totals. Calgary carried the play, had the scoring opportunities, and if it wasn’t for pucks hoping over waiting sticks, the Flames would have sealed this game far sooner. As it happened it wasn’t until there were seven minutes remaining in the third where Daymond Langkow gloved a puck down into a maze of sticks that may or may not have been touched by Eric Nystrom, Martin Havlat, or Langkow himself. Potential handpass averted, Langkow pushed the puck to the point where Cory Sarich got a shot on net while Todd Bertuzzi wrestled with Brent Seabrook to allow the rebound to land right on the stick of Nystrom who made no mistake blasting the puck through Khabibulin for his second in as many games. The crowd erupted as Nystrom celebrated the way they all should, and the din of the crowd could not be stopped until Iginla sent the Blackhawks home with serious doubts getting an empty netter with a handful of seconds left.
Three Stars
1. Olli Jokinen: Jokinen was an absolute monster. He was flying around the ice, hitting everything in sight, and with his three point night, there was no one on the Blackhawks team who could deal with him.
2. Eric Nystrom: His turnover that ended up with the Hawks third goal aside, Nystrom was a force tonight. Usually counted on for his energy play, penalty killing and defensive awareness, he contributed on the scoresheet and just like all season long, his goal scoring was clutch.
3. Jarome Iginla: Not quite the monster that he has had to be in the past, but he was clearly more motivated in this contest that previously in the series. When having to contend with him AND Jokinen, the Hawks had no answer.
Big Save
Miikka Kiprusoff made a glove save in the third period. Seriously. Both goaltenders were absolute crap, so there literally was nothing to choose from in terms of big saves.
Big Hit
David Moss and Eric Nystrom (or Curtis Glencross) tag teamed a Blackhawk defenceman behind his net, creating a turnover just seconds after Jokinen’s first goal of the game. The hitting is really starting to take it’s toll on the Blackhawks.
The Goat
Terrible goaltending aside, the gaffe of the game was committed by Cam Barker whose whiffed pass attempt was directly on the stick of Jokinen just seconds into the second period.
Mr. Clutch
Look no further than the man who only bothers to score meaningful goals: Eric Nystrom. Out of the seven goals he has scored during the regular and post season, four have been game winners.
Odds and Ends
The result of tonight’s game can leave you with an interesting set of feelings. First, the Flames probably feel they have a good amount of momentum heading back to Chicago. Clearly the first team to steal a win on the road will likely take the series. But with the comeback attempt the Blackhawks mounted in the second period, they could be thinking that they’re coming close to taking down the Flames for good….Perhaps the most telling sight on the ice in game four. The play of Jonathan Toews, and in particular what he’s starting to do with the puck. The physical play of the Flames seems to be getting into his head. On several occasions he was seen making sure he got rid of the puck, even if it went to nowhere, just as a Flames player was coming to run him over…..Quick comment on the officiating, while it wasn’t horrendous per se, it was mighty inconsistent, and that’s what frustrates fans the most. If you’re going to call a penalty on one team one way, then you had better call it the same if the situation is reversed. It seems that the Blackhawks are being given the benefit of the doubt, while the Flames are getting called on even the tiniest thing. Prime example was Todd Bertuzzi’s tripping penalty in the third that had the C of Red screaming “WE WANT A REF!” Bertuzzi used to be that strong, but no longer, unless every member of the Hawks is a certain type of hair over 100lbs. Compare that to the trip on Iginla with 40 seconds remaining in the game. There is no way that the Blackhawks have been saintly enough to only warrant 4 penalties in two games to the Flames 11. Just call it the same both ways, that’s all we ask of you NHL….Terrible luck for the Flames to lose two more bodies, and centers at that with Craig Conroy dropping off after the first, apparently after a hit that rung his bell, and Daymond Langkow taking a nasty shot off the hand. Hopefully one of the two, or both, can return for game 5.
Next Up
Calgary hopes to steal the first game on the road in Chicago on Saturday night at 7PM MT on TSN.
Players who dressed, but maybe not in these combinations:
Glencross – Jokinen – Iginla
Bertuzzi – Langkow – Cammalleri
Nystrom – Conroy – Moss
Roy – Peters – Boyd
Phaneuf – Leopold
Pardy – Aucoin
Sarich – Vandermeer
Kiprusoff
