Suspensions and fines galore for Calgary, but it was Detroit who hacked and crosschecked behind the play. The NHL exhibited their double standard by fining Calgary a total of 125,000 and Detroit nothing. Would Calgary respond accordingly with a suitable effort?
In period one it was all pins and needles as the teams went through a ‘feeling process’. Why they need to feel each other out after game 5 is beyond me but period one was a bore.
Surprisingly, it was Calgary who got on the board first with a Jarome Iginla goal. Despite the Flames up 1 there were badly outplayed for the entire game. Lang later tied it soon after in the second.
The third period saw no scoring, more dirty Detroit play, and more Detroit shots. Nothing would be solved and that mean OT for the first time in the series. Many chances were exchanged early with Calgary even going on the PP. Nothing was doing as Detroit made adjustments with Calgary still trying to play like it was September.
Detroit had a 4 minutes PP after Conroy high-sticked everyone’s favorite Holmstrom. Detroit wouldn’t score and the Flames were charged. On an extended pressure situation Calgary’s second line (doing most of the damage all game) nearly came out with the win but Moss fluffled a rolling pass and miss the wide open net.
The top lines again for Calgary were non-existent. Although the play was not nearly as bad as 2006 Anaheim series, it was a disgusting display of attitude and grit. After 50 shots go your way after 4 periods you have a gut feeling that Calgary wasn’t going to pull it out.
Minutes into the second OT it would end. Detroit would score off a partial screen with Calgary running around looking stunned. For some reason even with the home crowd the team was extremely slow in the OT session hardly making changes and laboring to make passes and hits. The better team clearly won this series and Calgary will face an off season with many many changes again.
Kipper was the shining star of this series!!! And what a series it was. I am by no means a Detroit fan The Flames made them work hard for the win and they did just that.
As a non-biased third party that thouroughly enjoyed this series, I have to say that the goalie stick slash, the sucker punch that led to a concusion, and the nasty but end (I got 2 ribs broken from one of those), made it hard to root for the Flames. I expected this type of play from Bertuzzi.
I have heard the league will also hold a hearing this week to determine if The Conroy stick was intentional. The replay doesn’t look good.
Conroy’s stick was intentional? ! I don’t think so. I don’t recall a butt end, and believe me, the punch to the face from Langkow wasn’t enough for a concussion.