Flames Finally Finish Off Jackets, 3-2
By Steve Sirk,  Columbus Wired (3/8/03)

Third year expansion teams rarely serve as an established franchise’s bogey team, but when the Calgary Flames can’t sleep at night, it’s due to bed-wetting nightmares about a radioactive green insect. The Columbus Blue Jackets’ first win in franchise history was in Alberta. Columbus entered tonight’s game 7-3-0 all-time against the Flames, including an unblemished record in five Ohio matchups. But tonight, with 14th place in the Western Conference on the line, the Flames exorcised their cowtown demons, beating the Jackets 3-2 on Jarome Iginla’s goal with seven seconds to play in overtime.

Artistic, it was not.

“It was a gritty, chip and footrace type of game,” said Jackets President/GM/coach/t-shirt-cannon-operator Doug MacLean. “It was a hard-fought game.”

The hardest of the fighting occurred when the game was just five seconds old. You’d think it would be difficult to get one’s dander up in five ticks, but when Craig Berube and Jody Shelley line up opposite one another, you can’t help but expect the expected, even if neither of them is actually mad at the other.

“Calgary had their first choice on who they wanted to start,” explained MacLean. “We decided that you couldn’t have Berube out there without having Shelley. That was a natural.”

As soon as the puck dropped, two pairs of gloves dropped with it. The brutes took turns wailing on one another, each landing upwards of ten punches before Shelley tackled Berube to the ice.

“It was automatic,” said Shelley. “I was excited to start. I told Linger (David Ling) I’d take right wing so I could line up across from (Berube). When we lined up, I said ‘Let’s get this going.’ He said, ‘Right now?’ I said, ‘Why not?’ That’s all it took. It was good to get the crowd into it right away.”

The crowd got into it all right, but the first period quickly degenerated into a stop-and-go penalty-filled affair with no fluidity. There were 32 minutes in combined penalties, but only 13 combined shots, despite six combined power plays. Contrary to conventional wisdom, MacLean was correct when he said, “The first period was all power play and penalty kill, so nothing really happened.”

One thing did happen though, and that was Calgary taking the lead on a power play goal by Chris Drury. Blue Jackets goalie Marc Denis gave up a long rebound when saving a Tony Lydman shot. Drury was there to rifle it back on frame, over the sprawling Denis.

The Blue Jackets started to threaten in the second period. Jody Shelley had a goal waved off six minutes in because the goal came off its pegs. Two minutes later, Jaroslav Spacek nicked the top of the crossbar on a blast set up by a whirling Ray Whitney feed.

At the 10:45 mark, the Jackets finally broke through. David Vyborny shot from a poor angle, but Flames goalie Roman Turek gave up a big rebound in front of the goal. Sean Pronger swooped in and roofed it for his seventh goal of the year, tying a career high.

The chippy play didn’t abate in the second period, but the Jackets power play could not convert its chances. Columbus had four power plays in the period, including two cracks at taking the lead, but the man-advantage proved to be no advantage at all as the team endlessly cycled without shooting. The clubs entered their locker rooms at the second intermission deadlocked at one goal apiece.

Given the history between the two clubs, and the recent home performances by Columbus, one had to figure the Jackets were in good shape. But the Flames took a 2-1 lead with 11:08 to play when Oleg Saprykin’s centering pass for Martin Gelinas deflected off the skate of Spacek and past Denis.

As the minutes salted away, one had to wonder if the Jackets had another comeback in them. Down 3-0 to Edmonton and down 2-0 to Vancouver, the Jackets rallied for a tie and a win respectively. Even in their 3-2 loss to Detroit, Columbus rallied from two deficits.

With 70 seconds to play, the Jackets would again muster a crucial goal. Mike Sillinger won a loose puck behind the Flames goal. He rolled out toward the left corner and feathered the puck out to Rostislav Klesla, who was creeping in from the left point. Klesla collected the puck and fired high, beating Turek on his stick side. It was Klesla’s second goal of the year…and the week.

“It was just a matter of getting the first goal,” said the second-year defenseman. “I was waiting pretty long for that one. But now it’s pretty wide open so hopefully the goals will keep coming. I’ll keep joining the rush to support the forwards, and if they see me open, they will pass it and I will shoot it since they are going in now.”

With the arena at a fever pitch from Klesla’s heroics, the roof was nearly blown off the place when Luke Richardson scored what appeared to be the winning goal with six seconds to play. Referee Paul Stewart was right on top of the play, and he correctly ruled that Richardson had knocked the puck in with a high stick. (Oddly enough, it was the fourth disallowed goal of the game…two for each team.)

“Marshy (Grant Marshall) thought it was high stick,” said MacLean. “I didn’t see it, but I was hoping they’d go upstairs and look at it. Stewie was there, and he’s retiring soon, so I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt.”

The correct call was made and the game moved in to overtime. Not content to settle for a draw, MacLean started rolling three forwards as the 4-v-4 extra session progressed. “In overtime, we played to win,” he said. “That’s something that I don’t think we do enough of around here, and that’s play to win.”

MacLean rolled the dice, but they came up snake eyes when Iginla scored his 30th goal of the year with just seven seconds to play. Iginla, unmarked in front, easily converted a behind the net feed from Flames captain Craig Conroy.

For the Flames, the victory vanquished their Nationwide Arena hex. For the Jackets, it was a point earned…but they lost ground nonetheless.

“We battled back and got a point, but a loss is a loss,” said Denis. “If I ever stand here and say I’m happy with a loss, please punch me in the face.”

*****

EPILOGUE:

In the middle of his post-game remarks, MacLean took a moment to talk about referee Paul Stewart, whose retirement is imminent.

“I think he’s got one more game left,” said MacLean. “I’d like to congratulate him. I’ve coached a lot of games where I’ve had him as a referee. I remember one night in Ottawa when I was really upset after a game and I went to the referee’s room and asked if I could speak to him. The security guard came out with an 800 number that Stewie said the league had set up to field all complaints about him. Anyway, I’m sorry to see him leave the game. He’s a great person, a good guy, and he’s been great for the game. I just want to publicly congratulate Stewie on a great career, no matter how much we’ve yelled at each other over the years.”