loading...
Canwest News Service
CALGARY – The Calgary Flames act like victims of post-traumatic stress disorder every time they see the Chicago Blackhawks.
Maybe they can't exorcise the mental picture of four losses last season to Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and their gang of young stars from the Windy City. Or maybe they have yet to emotionally recover from the first-round playoff ouster inflicted last spring by bruising Dustin Byfuglien and friends.
Or perhaps their memories are short, and the distress simply dates back to last month when the Flames coughed up a 5-0 lead at the United Center and fell 6-5 to mark the greatest comeback in Blackhawks history.
No matter. The Hawks have the Flames number and in a big way, especially after an embarrassing 7-1 Chicago drubbing Thursday night at the Pengrowth Saddledome.
"We want to come out and have our best game of the year," Calgary centre Craig Conroy was saying after the morning skate. "I mean, what a collapse we had last time.
"We don't want that. We want to get the same lead and just keep going."
Conroy's game plan sounded good in theory, but the Flames followed a familiar script to record their second loss in a row at home.
And this one was ugly for Calgary and in every sense of the word.
Before the game, the Flames had pledged to do a better job of clearing the blue paint for goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff. But on the first Chicago goal, Troy Brouwer had three whacks at the puck from the high-rent district in front of the Calgary net.
Not surprisingly, the third attempt beat Kiprusoff to give Chicago a 1-0 lead at 9:15 of the first period.
Five minutes later, Jarome Iginla broke in behind the Chicago defence on a breakaway. Defenceman Duncan Keith wisely mugged the Flames captain, dragging him down before 19,289 enraged witnesses.
Iginla wanted a penalty shot. Referee Paul Devorski saw it otherwise, and Duncan Keith gladly took the two-minute minor for holding.
On the ensuing power play, Cristobal Huet, the alleged Achilles heel of the mighty Hawks, absolutely robbed Olli Jokinen with a pad save that left the snake-bitten Finn shaking his head in disbelief.
Jokinen managed four shots on goal in the first period. He finally scored on his fifth attempt, just 14 seconds into the second period, with just his third goal of the season
After the Jokinen goal, the Hawks proceeded to storm the Flames net and bury the home team in quick fashion.
First, Kris Versteeg tipped in a blistering point shoot by Duncan Keith. Then Byfuglien opted to shoot instead of pass on a partial two-on-one for the third Chicago goal.
Andrew Ladd then notched his fourth of the year on a brutal Flames line change that allowed the former Calgary Hitmen forward to dance in all alone on Kiprusoff.
Kane celebrated his 21st birthday in style with a goal on a two-man advantage thanks to a Calgary bench minor for too many men and a roughing penalty to Dion Phaneuf for reacting to a Brent Seabrook hit on Daymond Langkow.
Versteeg added his second of the game with 48 seconds left in the period to wrap up one of the worst periods for the Flames in recent memory.
The fans booed lustily as the local heroes skated off the ice for the second intermission. They were still booing when the team returned for the third.
Curtis McElhinney mopped up in goal for the final 20 minutes for Calgary. Kiprusoff surrendered six goals on 24 shots.
Fourth liner Ben Eager scored in the third period to put a wrap on the drubbing.
Rene Bourque, the Flames leading scorer, left the game for further medical evaluation after taking a hit in the first period from Niklas Hjalmarsson.
Calgary Herald
vhall@theherald.canwest.com
