Well at least now my Game 5 tickets are worth something, huh? I’m not going to waste a lot of time recapping last night’s game because it’s simply not worth it (and everyone else already has done it – Fifth Feather – HockeeNight – GOEL – Blackhawks Buzz.
Everyone says about the same thing – the bounces were just on the Flames side last night (funny how that can happen in your home arena for the first playoff game). The biggest reason the Flames won this one, other than the Hawks power play disappearing after the first goal, is that Khabby simply had an off night. He’d been out of his skull the first two games and deserves the type of credit Havlat and Toews got for games 1 and 2.
Last night, not so much.
Not to say Khabby was bad, he just wasn’t great. The second goal he let in was just a fluke. 99 times out of 100 that doesn’t go in, last night though it came at just the right time for the Flames and the game was pretty much out of reach from then on.
Give credit to the Hawks for not curling up at that point though, they still made it interesting.
Of course, even with the win Keenan still found things to complain about. Here’s Burish’s crosscheck on Bourque:
I think it looks like he got him on the shoulder/back, not the face. One would think that a crosscheck to the face would make your head snap back a bit while Bourque seems to be fine. But here’s Keenan via Flames Insider:
“I’m disappointed that they weren’t given a match penalty for deliberate attempt to injure,” Keenan said. “A cross-check to the face where (Adam) Burish broke his stick over his face. He suffered an injury because of that cross-check to the face. We had a meeting, the managers and coaches about those types of tactics late in games. I have no idea how the referees could miss it. It was blatant and it was a cross-check to the face to the point where a man broke his stick over his face.”
The Flames also said Bourque was unable to take questions due to getting medical treatment for an upper body injury which I’m sure Keenan will blame on the check. But Bourque seemed fine enough to skate over to the Hawks bench and come after Burish…
Who else is sick of Keenan’s shit? Can someone please change his diaper so he’ll stop crying? Was the Burish hit dirty? Yes – this series is full of dirty plays. “He suffered an injury”? Grow a pair, man…
Seeing as how Colin Campbell is one the biggest jokes alive I’m not going to be surprised if Burish does get suspended – but I’ll still call bullshit.