Hung in there with the Calgary Sun's Randy Sportak until the crowd around Calgary Flames' captain Jarome Iginla dissipated following Tuesday night's 5-4 win over the Colorado Avalanche. Iginla did what a good captain does – at 3-3, with the game slipping through the Flames' fingers again, Iginla broke the deadlock with his first of the season and then set up Todd Bertuzzi for the eventual game winner. Had the Flames lost there – with two days between games and a home-and-home with the Edmonton Oilers on the horizon – the heat would have been cranked up even higher on the team, and coach Mike Keenan, after two underachieving performances to start off the season.
Still, the most interesting aspect of the night came earlier, when Iginla drew a fighting major for the second game in a row. Last Saturday, he and Willie Mitchell exchanged punches; against the Avalanche, Iginla was in against Cody McCormick. Iginla is one of the strongest and fittest players in the NHL, but McCormick is 6-3, 215 and was making his season debut (replacing Marek Svatos in the line-up). Both players spent 7:03 in the penalty box – the five minutes they received for their fighting majors and another 2:03 before a whistle stopped play and they could exit the box. In all, McCormick played 4:10 on the night. Iginla was a season low 13:10, because of the major; last year, he averaged 21:26 of playing time per night.
Does it make any sense to have your best player missing that much time, especially if he's only taking a fourth-liner to the box with him? Coach Mike Keenan figured Iginla had no choice in the matter and hinted that he thought an instigating penalty was warranted against McCormick for starting the fight.
Iginla, for his part, said he didn't go looking for fights; that they tended to come in spurts for him; and that it may be 30 games before he gets into another scrap. But he also suggested that he couldn't really play his game without resorting to fighting at some point when provoked. It all ended well – no broken hand in the fight, something that did happen to Iginla earlier in his career. If the Flames were to lose Iginla for any extended time to an injury, that development would seriously undermine their playoff chances.
With a fight, a goal and an assist, Iginla recorded another Gordie Howe hat trick.
“I have no problem with that,” said Iginla. When I wondered how many that had been for him, Iginla answered: “I'm not sure.”
Iginla went on to explain: “I'm not trying to go out there, trying to have a fight, but – I was just going in there, (Dion) Phaneuf's in there, they had a couple of guys in there and you stick together as a team.
“I got cold-cocked pretty good there. Then things just happened because that's hockey. It's a tough one. I understand their wanting me to stay out of the box, but at the same time, I'm just trying to play hard. I don't think I can play, trying to avoid fights. They come in bunches, then you go 30 games without one, and then they come in bunches again. It's just part of the game.”
Iginla is on pace for about 50 fights, which would put him among the league leaders, according to hockeyfights.com.
“I have no number in my head,” he said. “Could be two, could be more.”
Iginla finished by saying: “I know sometimes you should just skate away, but sometimes it's hard to do that.”
Harder still, when so many players look as if they're going to challenge Iginla in the early going. Incidentally, the Flames sat out enforcer Andre Roy for the game against Colorado.
