The gooniest thing about the hit is that Daniel Carcillo first high-sticked Gilbert in the face and then body slammed him into the boards from behind. That’s a double-whammy goon hit and it’s unacceptable especially when Gilbert hadn’t even touched the puck. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I won’t defend a dirty hit, whether it’s from someone on the Blackhawks or an opponent.

There are questionable hits, like Alex Ovechkin’s hit on Brian Campbell that could have been ruled either dirty or just an accident. (Welcome to Russian hockey!)  Then there are hits like James Wisniewski’s hit on Brent Seabrook where it is inarguably dirty since Wiz charged from across the ice, left his skates, and intentionally aimed for Seabrook’s head.  The Carcillo hit is likewise inarguably dirty.  Sorry Blackhawks’ fans if you want to try to defend that hit, but it’s dirty.

In fact, the Carcillo hit reminds me of then-Canuck Todd Bertuzzi’s hit, or more precisely, sucker punch, on the Avalanche’s Steve Moore back in 2004 which sadly ended Moore’s career.  There’s no doubt that Bertuzzi took a cheap shot at Moore, punching him from the side like Carcillo high-sticked Tom Gilbert in last night’s game, but Bertuzzi certainly did not intend to push Moore to the ice as hard as he did.  Again, cheap shot?  No doubt.  Was it worth the resulting suspension?  Absolutely.  Was it worth a criminal investigation and an indictment?  Absolutely not!  How is a player supposed to play hockey if every time he gets into a hockey fight he has to worry about being indicted???

Think about the precedent it would set here in the U.S. if football players had to start worrying about criminal assault charges every time they tackled a guy too hard or chop blocked somebody and their opponent fell too hard or the wrong way?  For instance, I think the hit on Chicago Bear Johnny Knox from Seahawk defensive tackle Anthony Hargrove a few weeks ago was horrendous.  Many worried that Knox would be paralyzed, and it was that much more horrible a hit when the Seahawks were seen on the sidelines high-fiving each other as Knox lay still on the field.  But do I think Hargrove should be brought up on charges?  No, of course not.  Players of contact sports know the risks.  Granted hockey is a little different because there is, for the time being, sanctioned fighting that is part of both defensive and offensive strategies.  Even goon moves are strategic, but just like any contact sport, accidents happen.  Guys play too rough.  But to assume there was criminal intent or that the player should have somehow known that a cheap shot would result in a career-ending injury?  I don’t think so.

To further hypothetically illustrate how ridiculous it would be to handle sports injuries in criminal or civil court consider the following real-world incident: A couple of seasons ago Blackhawk Patrick Sharp speared Red Wings’ Nicklas Lidstrom in the testicles during Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals.  Let’s say hypothetically Lidstrom’s testicles were damaged such that he could never produce any more little Lidstroms.  Would it be reasonable for Lidstrom to sue Patrick Sharp in civil court for damages?  Should Sharp have been brought up on charges for assault?  Certainly Sharp should have known there’s a great potential for permanent damage when you pitchfork a guy in the berries, so how should the NHL and I guess the criminal and civil courts have handled Sharp’s pitchforking incident?  Well, it never got that far because here in the states, such an action would be viewed as ludicrous.  And besides, the courts are tied up with real crimes.  So what should Lidstrom do?  What any athlete does in that situation.  Go home, ice down your marbles, and accept that you’re going to walk funny for a few months.  That’s hockey.  You can penalize dirty hits and goon moves with fines and suspensions, but if the baseball steroid scandal is any indication, outside policing of one’s sport is never desirable, especially not when that policing is done in the criminal and civil courts or God forbid, Congress.

So just to sum up.  Dirty hits and goon moves are bad.  They should be penalized with fines and suspensions which seem to be working quite well as a deterrent.  Outside interference via the courts — civil or criminal — is unwarranted and overly-punitive.  Hockey, like football and other contact sports, can be dangerous.  While dangerous hits can be minimized, accidents happen, and of course players of these sports know that going in.  When career-ending, or God forbid life-ending injuries happen, they should be viewed as freak accidents (i.e. fallout from a sport being played aggressively) unless it can be proven that a player had intent to severely hurt another player.  If you start applying should-have-known kind of standards to sports injuries — as in, “He should have known that when he put that guy into the boards that it would snap his neck” — then no one anywhere will be able to play contact sports ever again.  The liability would simply be too great.  So barring overwhelming evidence of intent to hurt, maim, or kill, the courts should be left out of sports.  Isn’t western society too litigious as it is anyway?

And as for Daniel Carcillo’s hit on Tom Gilbert, since Carcillo is a known dirty hitter, I suspect the book will be thrown at him by the NHL, and rightfully so.  Repeat offenders of proven dirty hits should be dealt with in a manner that matches the offense.  With the hit on Brent Seabrook by James Wisniewski, Wiz was suspended eight games without pay because he was a repeat offender.  In fact it was well known at the time that the Wisniewski suspension was the NHL’s commentary on repeat offenses as much as it was on the brutality of the hit. A similar suspension from the NHL is likely for Carcillo, and perhaps it’s warranted.  Not only did Carcillo intend to high-stick Tom Gilbert, but Carcillo also appears to have intentionally put Gilbert head first into the boards, though Gilbert did not have the puck at the time.  While I have long railed against the NHL for their inconsistent penalizing and/or their over-penalizing of questionable hits, I will never defend a dirty hit, especially not if a Bertuzzi-type incident could result.  The NHL is right to police its own sport, as long as they don’t go overboard and so severely penalize everything that the integrity of the game of hockey is lost.  If the NHL is perceived as being unable to police its own sport as it was with the Bertuzzi incident…well, I don’t think anyone wants to open that Pandora’s box again.

Last night’s 4-1 win against the Calgary Flames was conspicuous in regards to Patrick Kane for a few additional reasons.  First, it was very obvious that Patrick Sharp set Patrick Kane up for a very sweet goal in the third period.  Even Pat Foley noted that Patrick Sharp could just as easily have taken that shot himself, but he “unselfishly” passed off to Kane for the goal.  Was Patrick Sharp being “unselfish” really, or was he just doing what he had been instructed to do?  It’s no secret Patrick Kane has trouble taking the puck to the net.  It’s also no secret that Patrick Kane will give up the puck if harassed by opponents even slightly.  Heck, I’ve been writing about it for several seasons now.  In fact, much of this blog space has been taken up with my complaints about how Jonathan Toews shouldn’t have had to babysit Patrick Kane when Kane was on Toews’ line.  Not only was it ridiculous for Toews to have to prop up Kane, but I think Toews got tired of it too and may have asked for Kane to be put on a separate line…

…Which leads me to the second most conspicuous thing from last night’s Blackhawks-Flames game: After the game, Captain Jonathan Toews gave every one of the Blackhawks a fist bump coming off the ice except for Patrick Kane.  Subtle?  Yes.  Yet it speaks volumes.  So I’ll say it.  I think Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews may have had a falling out.  And all this fan can say is that I don’t blame Jonathan Toews one bit for being fed up as Patrick Kane’s babysitter.  I would also add that it is very apparent that Jonathan Toews is not happy on this team this season, and understandably so.

Jonathan Toews is a superstar, no doubt.  But as captain, you can so clearly see he puts his team first and himself second.  Toews could be a Sidney Crosby or an Alex Ovechkin and take all the glory for himself, but he is selfless and has instead taken a step back and has supported his teammates instead of becoming a glory hound.  Still, there are limits, and if Toews was asked to babysit Patrick Kane in order to make Kane look better (i.e. to carry Kane), well, that is absolutely unfair to Toews, captain or not.

Now I’m not trying to shrink heads here, but there is inarguably a team psychology to every team, and it looks like the Hawks have been psyched out all season.  They win, but can you really say that they’re clean wins or that the Hawks look like a cohesive unit?  And why don’t the Hawks salute the fans after home games anymore?  Why don’t Toews and Kane do fan signings together anymore, or at all?  Why are the Hawks doing less reaching out to the fans than they have in past seasons?  Something’s not right here, and the cracks are starting to show.

Related:

Hawks win on Halloween, but still some bats in the belfry

Yet, O’Halloran, undeterred by his comeuppance, switched the focus of his ire to Patrick Sharp in the 3rd period.  Goony Stars’ forward Steve Ott had delivered a cheap shot high-stick to Sharpy late in the 2nd period, and Sharpy, having had enough of Ott’s gooniness, retaliated in the third with a cross-check to Ott, for which Sharpy was penalized.  That, of course, was the correct call, but past the midway point of the 3rd period, O’Halloran slapped Sharp with a bogus tripping call, and when Sharp protested, O’Halloran threw him out of the game!  Now, if you were to ask anyone — whether the Hawks organization, Hawks fans, or even hockey pundits outside of Chicago — who the most subdued and easygoing players on the Hawks were, you would probably hear Patrick Sharp first followed by Jonathan Toews.  So it is even that much more suspect that O’Halloran targeted them both for bogus calls, even throwing the most easy-going of the two, Patrick Sharp, out of the game!  Of all of the players least likely to mouth off to a ref, Sharp is not only the least likely suspect on the Hawks, but one of the least likely in the league to mouth off to a ref.  Isn’t it well past time for the NHL to censure Dan O’Halloran for his repeated biased calls against the Hawks over several seasons???  The NFL’s referees’ calls are reviewed every week, so I have to believe the NHL’s refs’s calls are reviewed also.  How could any audit of Dan O’Halloran’s refereeing miss his bias against the Hawks?  And what do the Hawks organization, the players, and the fans have to do to get the NHL’s attention about what a problem O’Halloran’s subjective calling is?  If you can’t fire the guy, then at the very least don’t let him call Hawks games anymore!

On a happier note, it’s so great to have Dave Bolland back!  Bolly and his line were awe-inspiring tonight.  Bolly has, for many seasons, kind of flown under the radar, but comparing last night’s game with tonight’s game, you can so clearly see the value-add of Bolly’s line against a team with good D.  The combination of Bolland, with Michael Frolik, and Bryan Bickell was fundamental to the win, no doubt.  It has also been great to see Bryan Bickell get back on the body again, and out of his quasi slump.  And Frolik has always been a steady and physical player, so the combination of these three on a line…well…you can take it to the bank.

Also key to tonight’s win, as he was in last night’s effort, was Nick Leddy.  So far, Leddy has been the Hawks’ shutdown player, which is an amazing thing to be able to say about a 20-year old kid.  Just imagine what Leddy will be capable of once he matures.

And while we’re on the topic of maturity, it’s amazing how little Adam Burish has matured since being traded from the Blackhawks to the Stars two seasons ago.  Everyone knows Bur is an instigator, but in tonight’s game he was like the little red-headed stepchild desperate to get the attention of his former teammates.  I couldn’t tell if Burish was trying to get any attention, even negative attention, or if he was just trying to show the Hawks that it was a mistake to get rid of him two seasons ago.  I cannot ever recall Burish working so hard to get on an opposing team’s radar.  He picked a fight with Jamal Mayers in the 3rd after Mayers accidentally knocked off Bur’s helmet (which was simply not strapped on tightly enough, which I made a point of mentioning to my friend before the game even started), and he picked a fight with his former teammate Dave Bolland of all people.  You wouldn’t have thought Bolly and Bur had ever been teammates to look at them.  And watching former Hawk Jake Dowell go at it with current Hawk Jamal Mayers was a little bittersweet too, but it was especially hard to watch Burish get sent to the locker room for a game misconduct after instigating in the last few seconds of the game.  You know I started wondering about Burish’s character after he publicly dissed his former teammate Martin Havlat several seasons ago after Havlat got traded to the Wild, but seeing Bur’s antics tonight was just sort of…well…pathetic.  If Bur proved anything tonight, it’s that the Hawks were right to get rid of him.

And speaking of exits, the Hawks sent Brandon Pirri back down to Rockford and brought Marcus Kruger up.  I see Brandon Pirri as the next Jack Skille or Bryan Bickell, so I think Pirri is certainly worth the investment in time and is deserving of a chance.  Hopefully the Hawks will bring Pirri up to the bigs more often so he can work on his game.  If his pre-season contribution is any indication, Pirri will make for a fine sniper one day.

The Hawks could use a good sniper on their power play unit, though the Hawks were obviously improved over last night on the power play.  Andrew Brunette was able to score on the power play, but for the only power play goal of the night, which was better than the goose egg the Hawks had on the power play the night before.  That’s the good news.  The bad news is that the power play unit didn’t score on a 5-on-3 late in the second, and we all know Joel Quenneville’s theory about that.  I mean, how many times has Q said that if you don’t score on a 5-on-3 you’re probably not going to win the game?  Well, the Hawks won but clearly the power play unit still needs some work, though the penalty kill unit killed off all but one penalty.

Also needing improvement was Patrick Kane as center.  Kane won two face-offs, but lost four, leaving him with a face-off win percentage of only 33%.  Kane also had one giveaway, three shots on goal, and three misses which points to his difficulty in taking it to the net and following through once there.  Hopefully, over time, he can improve these numbers.

Still, tonight’s game was really exciting.  It gives me hope, and it shows that the Hawks are able to pinpoint their mistakes, learn from them, and improve.  If the team is able to stay healthy, the Hawks could have a good shot this season.

Related:

Oh Snap! Dan O’Halloran Gets Plugged on the Boards by Big Buff!

How Ya Like the Hawks Now Danny Boy???

Dallas was all over the Hawks with active sticks and they constantly cut off passing lanes, leaving the Hawks with only the option of crashing hard on the net, but none of the Hawks, save Nick Leddy and perhaps Patrick Sharp, were able to get anywhere near the net.  You have to hand it to the Stars; they had killer D, and the Hawks weren’t up to the challenge with their sloppy passing and giveaways.

And while Eddie Olczyk, Pat Foley, and others repeatedly talked up net minder Corey Crawford, trying to downplay the potentiality for a sophomore slump, Corey did appear to be showing early signs of the dreaded sophomore slump in last night’s game.  It’s like a no-hitter.  While it’s in progress if you talk about the possibility of a no-hitter, you will inevitably jinx the pitcher.  Yeah, well, if you repeatedly talk about the possibility of a goaltender’s sophomore slump before the season has even started, you’ll jinx him too.  And while we’re talking goal tending, how in the world could the Hawks have given the back-up goal tending job to Ray Emery and sent Alexander Salak back down to Rockford?  Baffling.  Simply baffling.

Oh yeah, and what happened to the Hawks’ special teams last night?  The power play unit couldn’t score at all, though the Stars gave them ample opportunities, and the PK couldn’t kill a fly let alone a penalty.  <Shakes head>

Well, there certainly have been some mighty big changes with the Blackhawks in the last two seasons, and the strain appears to have left the team not quite ready for prime time.  Jonathan Toews said something to the effect of that he hadn’t been this excited for a season to start in a while.  Unfortunately, when they make the players say things like that it usually means the opposite.  Hopefully the season-opening loss to the Stars was just a fluke, but I’m afraid it may not have been.

With Hossa, I’ve been reining in any excessive excitement I might let slip through my steely, hockey exterior. We’ve all been down this road before; we’ve bought into the hype and been disappointed.  Hossa did have some rust to work out of the pipes, but he did not disappoint.  Once Hossa oiled the hinges, he scored a short-handed goal on the penalty kill (as did Patrick Sharp within 28 seconds of each other) in the 2nd period.  Hossa would score again early on in the 3rd period and I was hoping for a hat trick, but alas it was not meant to be.  I am cautiously optimistic about Hossa, but continued performances like tonight’s will win over even this fiercest of skeptics.

While it’s usually good to have new blood, it’s still nice to see the old reliables, like Troy Brouwer who scored a goal during a penalty kill late in the 1st period, Dustin Byfuglien who scored midway through the 2nd (and who had a puck go up his shorts late in the 2nd period…tee hee), and Brent Seabrook who scored early in the 3rd.  Duncan Keith also had 3 assists.  And Niklas Hjalmarsson too is fast becoming old faithful.  He had a diving block in the first period (which is a really good way to break your neck if you slam into the boards head first), but that’s nothing as he seems to perpetually be putting himself in peril for this team.

There was a little bit of bumbling involving some bad passes, and at one point John Madden tripped over his own skates on a breakaway.  Madden would make up for it though, scoring a goal late in the 3rd.  The Hawks were also a little lazy on their back checking tonight, at first at least, but chalk that up to jet lag.  The important thing is that this team keeps improving.  So, what am I thankful for this season?  That the Blackhawks just keep getting better and better.  Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Also, on a goal scored by Cam Barker in the opening minutes of the third period (on which Colin Fraser assisted) Barker made a sweet deke, as did Patrick Sharp in the 3rd round of the OT shootout for the game winner.

And poor Kris Versteeg.  What a bad night he had.  He just couldn’t get a break.  Steegy got handed two weird penalties — one for slashing, though we all thought it was goal-tender interference, which also would’ve been a bogus call, and one for actual goal-tender interference.  Meanwhile, the refs were missing hooking calls like hooking didn’t even exist.  Geesh, why can’t the NHL hold a conference on bad refereeing?  Seems just as important a topic as fighting or so-called “dirty” hits.

And blast!  I keep forgetting to write a post about Dave Bolland’s back surgery.  Bolly will be out 3-4 months.  Get well Dave, take lots of pain killers, and get back soon!

Antti Niemi too made some spectacular saves.  He can only get better.

Overall, great game, with the Hawks beating the Oil 4-3.  It was, however, a little bittersweet to see Nikolai Khabibulin in the opposing net.  Patrick Sharp summed up the Hawks’ feelings on Khabi when he said that he wished him luck, but not too much luck.  Maybe that was what Sharpie was trying to communicate to Khabi when Sharpie missed that penalty shot in the 2nd period.  Khabi was bound and determined not to let Sharpie score on him, and probably knew just where Sharpie was headed with that shot.  I guess that’s why Sharpie looked back and flashed Khabi that big ol’ grin.

According to NHL Updates,

“The NHL would like the team to go up for auction in September to owners who plan to keep it in Arizona, such as the prospective buyers who have already filed applications to purchase the Coyotes.”

So can the NHL be surprised when people conjecture that their “relocation fee” is really just a slimy attempt to keep the Phoenix Coyotes in the U.S.?  It would be nice for Phoenix to keep their hockey team, but should the NHL/U.S. really be interfering with international commerce? (And could you blame Mr. Balsillie if he filed a claim with the NAFTA Court?)  And who gave the NHL so much power anyway?

Suffice it to say that I do not like what is going on with the NHL.  Besides this Phoenix Coyotes thing, they have spent the better part of this season seemingly trying to get rid of fighting in hockey by overly-penalizing it.  So now when I imagine the head honchos of the NHL, I envision their meetings like how The Simpsons portray the Republican National Headquarters: a dark, foreboding laboratory housing the likes of Frankenstein, Dracula, and of course Mr. Burns.  I wonder why that is?

I’ve only been to Canada once, and it’s been years ago now, but it’s such a lovely country.  So why do we keep crapping all over it?  And why do the Canadians keep putting up with us? (Actually, here it would probably be best if the Canadians separated us from some of the shenanigans of our judicial system.  But then, if you start down that road you’d have to ask the entire world to separate us from some of the actions of our entire government.  Hey, that might not be a bad idea.)  Although Canadians don’t seem to pull punches when it comes to hockey which makes this thing with Balsillie, the Coyotes, and the NHL all that more confusing.  And the Canadian press is so much more intelligent than ours.  Have they stood up for Basillie?  They should.

For instance, look at this article from The Globe and Mail in Toronto.  In this op ed, sports journalist (no really, an actual journalist!) Bruce Dowbiggin writes:

Inquiring minds wanted to know why Detroit’s incomparable defenceman Nick Lidstrom missed the final two games of the Western Conference final between the Red Wings and Chicago. The media spoke only of the ubiquitous “lower-body” injury. And when Lidstrom appeared tired and mistake-prone in the Final against Pittsburgh, questions were raised again about his fitness to play. Was it an ankle? A knee? Under the NHL’s Orwellian injury disclosure policy, a postal-code approximation of the hurt was all that was given to the media.

Actually, Lidstrom had a damaged testicle from being pitch-forked by Chicago’s Patrick Sharp in Game 3 of the Western final. He needed all the time between the cheap shot and Game One of the final to rehabthe injury. As Paul Harvey used to say, “Now you know the rest of the story”.

While it’s considerate to Lidstrom that such an . . . er, intimate injury be hushed up, the cover-up damages the league’s credibility in several ways. First, we now have a better understanding that Lidstrom was not tired or old or ready for retirement– as suggested by more than one announcer or reporter. Second, the cover-up denied the opportunity to expose Sharp’s disrespectful abuse of one of the league’s superstars – a necessary discussion in lieu of the league’s willful denial on head shots.

An “Orwellian injury disclosure policy”?  A “postal-code approximation of the hurt”?  Oh how droll! You’d never see this level of intelligence in the American press.

And just to add my two cents, it’s not like the Red Wings haven’t ever resorted to goon hockey. (And here, someone’s mother will inevitably intervene and say, “And if your friends jumped off the Sears Tower would you do it too?”)  Ok, so I’m biased.  And yeah, Sharpie shouldn’t have plugged a guy in the berries.  That was a low blow, literally, but Hawks and Hawks fans alike just hate the Red Wings so much that there is an exception to every goon rule.

Anyway, my point is, this level of journalism, even in sports, illustrates why Canada rocks.  So why does our country, or at least our government, treat them so shabbily?  Perhaps it’s time we give Canada its due.  Canada, you are the cleanest, nicest country.  Thank you for hockey, and hopefully our country can learn some things from you (like how not to dumb down the population by dumbing down the press).  And keep on sticking it to the NHL Canada, like with this gem,

“Somehow the NFL has had full reporting on injuries without compromising a single game. The NFL is the gold standard fans now expect. Every day the NHL cloaks itself in the shrouds of subterfuge adds to the perception of the league as out-of-date and fan unfriendly.”

because hockey is your sport and you were there first. (And the league is fan-unfriendly.  Hell, the league is player- and possibly even franchise-unfriendly.)

This interview with Patrick Kane really irritates me. In it he makes fun of the reason he wasn’t in game 3: His pet goldfish died and he had to fly back to Chicago to flush it down the toilet. Seems the only thing that’s going down the toilet lately is Kaner’s game.

Do we look stupid to you Kaner? Do you think it’s a joke that we’re all speculating that the reason you weren’t in game 3 is for YOUR safety? We wouldn’t all be speculating if there weren’t something to be speculating about; i.e. that you can’t hack it in the playoffs and you may not be able to hack it in the NHL. Yeah, hilarious!

You know I wrote a post a few days ago, in which, like other sports fans and pundits, I pondered whether Kane really had the flu or if they pulled him because he couldn’t take the hits and as a result wasn’t really contributing on offense. But then, because I’m a fan, I pulled the post because I thought I owed more allegiance to the Hawks and Kaner himself than to be critical of a team I so love. But if it’s a joke to Patrick Kane, then hey, why hold back?

So here’s what I really think. I think Patrick Kane has been struggling for the better part of the season. Without the help of Jonathan Toews and Patrick Sharp, Kane would have been struggling the whole season. He’s too short, too light-weight, and too mild-mannered to make it in the playoffs (and perhaps the NHL) as it stands now. I don’t agree with Steve Konroyd that Patrick Kane is an “energizing force” to his line. I think Patrick Kane has become a liability to his line with Jonathan Toews constantly having to shadow him in true big brother style to make sure the other bigger boys on the playground don’t beat him up. Thing is, Tazer’s a little busy in the playoffs and can’t shadow his little brother with the Flames ‘D’ being so good.

Konroyd went on to say that the Hawks missed Kane in game 3 since he’s their set-up man. Hmm, don’t think so. Kane can hardly make it out of the neutral zone much less anywhere near the net so far in this series against the Flames. But again, that’s been true for most of the season. Seems opposing teams figured out that the best way to keep Kane from scoring is to hard check him repeatedly. They know he can’t take it.

So why is the Blackhawks organization still pushing Patrick Kane down fans’ throats like he’s a Jonathan Toews?  As the Bleacher Report noted, the Blackhawks organization needs people to believe that lie because Kane has been a very effective marketing tool. But now it’s time to face facts. Kane’s game is in trouble. And that ain’t no joke.

While the team in general may have forgotten they were in the playoffs, Seabrook seemed to understand the up-the-ante mentality, making the big hits and masterfully blocking a humdinger of a shot for Khabibulin at the crease in the first period.

It’s also good to see the Hawks are using the power play better, with Patrick Sharp scoring a PP goal in the 1st period thanks to a nice pass from Jonathan Toews.  Looks like Sharpie is back to his old self again, even checking a Flame or two with a nice how-do-you-do in passing.  And as it was in the first game, Marty Havlat seemed to be one of the only ones who could take it to the net and score in the 3rd period.  Again, that’s just good ‘D’ on the Flames’ part.

And while this game was overall lackluster, a special nod goes to penalty killer Adam Burish and the penalty kill unit.  Although Bur should have known better than to cross-check Dion Phaneuf in the dwindling minutes of the game.  That cheap shot started a kerfuffle (as Pat Foley likes to say) between Dustin Byfuglien, Matt Walker, Ben Eager and Rene Bourque, Jarome Iginla, and Dion Phaneuf, resulting in Dustin Byfuglien and Rene Bourque being sent to the dressing room*.

Clearly something went wrong tonight.  Maybe the Hawks had jet lag.  Maybe they just didn’t bring their ‘A’ game (to dust off an old trite sports expression).  Well, whatever it was, hopefully the Hawks shake it off by Wednesday.

*Update: Though it wasn’t said at the time (probably because nobody, including the ref, the linesmen, and Toronto, knew what the heck was going on) apparently Dave Bolland, Ben Eager, and Dustin Byfuglien from the Hawks and Curtis Glencross and Rene Bourque from the Flames all received game misconduct calls for that end-of-the game donnybrook.  Hopefully nobody gets suspended.