Dallas Stars head coach Rick Bowness said something interesting in post-game media availability.
Reporter: “What do you think of your team after you got settled in?…Bowness: “Fine, I mean we thought they were going to run us out of the rink— and they didn’t. And we put up a good fight~…
You could see it in the body language of the Dallas Stars during the anthems. Flames players were bouncing getting ready to play and the crowd was incensed. On the other blue line it may as well have been five men being read their last rites before a hanging.
It didn’t turn out that way. The Stars stayed in it. One contributing factor was that the Saddledome had issues keeping the ice at an ideal temperature. To the point where they had to extend an intermission in order to let the water on the ice freeze.
So poor ice conditions, two teams flailing desperately to keep the puck off the opposition’s stick, and some good old Sutter hockey all added up to a 1-0 Flames win. It was a game one for the ages.
A few notes.
Coleman It was something to see Blake Coleman flip the switch. Every hit he made looked like it hurt. One collision with Alexander Radulov had the Russian struggling to get off the ice. The chippy winger from Plano, Texas had six hits on the night and helped set the pace physically.
Coleman also took a hit to the head in the first. The refs assessed a two minute minor, which was a surprise. Most would expect a misconduct penalty from that. He returned later in the period.
Swede Emotion Rasmus Andersson and John Klingberg have kicked off a rivalry. It was funny to hear Klingberg’s comments on Andersson in post-game:
I mean he’s… I’m not saying I’m a tough guy, but he’s acting tougher than he is. I feel like he’s the one guy there in the scrum. He doesn’t have a guy. I’m standing there with Coleman and he’s standing and shaking his gloves to me like “you wanna go against me?… Probably the least fighter on the ice there on our team. Then I was skating over to him and I was dropping my gloves and I wanna go, but he just standing there two seconds then all of a sudden he drops the gloves. I mean— he’s acting a little tougher than he is. We’re gonna go after him.…
A lot of words for a guy who had his lunch fed to him in the fight that ensued. By “we’re… he likely means “my teammates, but not me.…
It will be fun to see this story develop tomorrow night.
Team Shutout Jacob Markstrom made a few nice saves, but for the most part had less work to do to earn that shutout. The game finished 5-4 favouring Dallas in high danger chances, but really it came down to two saves for Markstrom. First, a well placed shot by Radulov that could have easily snuck under Markstrom’s right elbow and the other being a deflected shot that Markstrom crossed the crease and met with his left pad. Missing on those would have led to a much different post-game write-up.
That said, the Flames kept five on five high danger chances against to three. And only two over five powerplays. Bad ice or no; those are very stingy defensive numbers.
Playoff Chucky Last night was a real look at what many Flames fans had envisioned Matthew Tkachuk as when playoffs start. He hadn’t met those expectations in the past, but hoo boy did he do it last night.
The Scottsdale, Arizona kid finished with an assist, three hits and countless taps on the shoulder for defensive shifts. He played a pivotal role in keeping the puck jammed up in the Stars end during the final 30 seconds of game time.
Reffing Gear Change Flames fans were in a fervour as calls were missed in the third. It’s just so NHL to give five powerplays a piece and settle on that. Complaints about a lack of consistency in officiating seem reasonable after last night. Especially after blatant tripping calls going ignored such as when Gudbranson got his legs swept out in the third. The crowd let them have it.
Minor Penalties Assessed by Period 1st: 5 2nd: 5 3rd: 0
If whistles are going away, then just put them away to start the game. One theory is that the NHL put out a memo to call X amount of this or Y amount of that, but the officials would rather ref the game as playoffs were intended. This may not be entirely on the officials given that similar trends have gone on in other first round games.
Lovin’ It Stockton Heat head coach Mitch Love has won the Louis A.R. Pieri Memorial Award for league’s most outstanding coach. His squad finished the season with a 45-16-5-2 record— a franchise record for Stockton in terms of wins and points. Other franchise records set by the club this season include points and goals in a season (Matthew Phillips), goalie wins (Dustin Wolf) and rookie points (Jakob Pelletier).
One has to wonder if Mitch might get an offer for a coaching gig in the NHL this offseason.
The Flames are back at it tomorrow at 8pm. Expect better ice and a maybe another Swede-on-Swede if we’re lucky.
Trevor Neufeld
@Trevor_Neufeld