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CALGARY — For two days, they'd told themselves the same things — don't take too many penalties, don't fall behind early, don't give the San Jose Sharks more scoring chances than they need.
Two days; the same warnings. Over and over.
And so what happened Sunday night in Game 3 at the Pengrowth Saddledome? The Calgary Flames took to the ice like zombies from Night of the Living Dead. They took an early penalty (26 seconds into the game). They gave up a power-play goal. They gave up three goals in three minutes and 33 seconds.
And still with all that going against them, the Flames won a game they had no business being in, not the way they performed prior to The Hit, the one Calgary defenceman Cory Sarich threw into the Sharks' Patrick Marleau.
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If you check the statistics from Sunday night's Western Conference quarter-final here, you won't see Sarich's name followed by a string of goals and points scored. He did draw an assist last night, and an important one at that. His third-period pass eventually ended up on the stick of Owen Nolan, who blasted home the winner in a surprising 4-3 victory.
But it was Sarich's hit on Marleau that woke the Flames from their near-death slumber.
"It certainly energized our team after we struggled [with] a very difficult start," said Flames' coach Mike Keenan. "That hit united our team in terms of emotion."
United and ignited.
After watching his team surrender goals to the Sharks' Ryan Clowe, Marleau and Doug Murray, Keenan pulled his starting goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff, who responded by throwing his goal stick on the Flames' bench and kicking it for bad measure.
In relief, the Flames turned to Curtis Joseph and right then it seemed as if this was going to be a long and painful evening for the Flames. Only it was Marleau who was left feeling the pain.
On a hit that changed the complexion of the game, not to mention Marleau's, Sarich caught Marleau in his own end of the ice along the boards with his head down. It was a monster collision that brought the crowd alive and left Marleau dazed and bleeding.
"We were down 3-0 and I was just trying to make something happen," said Sarich. "I hit him and followed through. They [the referees] called it right. I didn't think it deserved a penalty."
The Flames scored on an ensuing power play and the game was on, along with the Sharks collapse. The third and tying goal was especially troubling for San Jose. Defenceman Marc-Edouard Vlasic put his team in a pickle when he knocked a loose puck into his own net past a sprawled goaltender Evgeni Nabokov. That came early in the third period as the Flames and their fans kept turning up the heat.
Nolan then scored the winner at 16:15 of the third period with Nabokov screened by two of his own players.
"I thought [Nolan] was going to pass it to me," Sarich said with a laugh. "But he shot and it went in so that's okay."
What Game 3 proved, in case anyone hadn't been listening, is that this is going to be a tight series from start to finish. The Flames are a rugged bunch; a lot more spirited than last year's team, which was badly out-played by the Detroit Red Wings. They also have a veteran presence in goal in Joseph, who was solid in his showing and earned the game's first star for his emergency efforts.
"[Joseph] played exceptionally well," said Keenan. "He looked like a veteran. He was a big influence on the outcome because he did steady the game down."
Meanwhile, the Sharks' postseason will to win has been questioned the past two years and will be questioned again after the Sarich hit turned the lights out on them.
Three games in, the Flames are still prone to turnovers and a mystery in their own end. The Sharks got an assist from centre Joe Thornton but still ended up losing a game they had firmly in their grasp.
One thing's certain, though: the Flames responded to Kiprusoff's benching and to Sarich's hit the way they were supposed to; with a mix of anger and pride.
That could be enough to turn the series in their favour.
At worst, it has the Sharks thinking and their heads locked in an upright position.
