Its said that home ice advantage is worth a goal-a-game. The Blackhawks got that edge in front of their wild, maddening red-towel waiving Chicago crowd with a pair of 3-2 wins.
Now its imperative the “C” of Red provide the Flames with the same spark on Monday and Wednesday.
The one big factor favoring the Flames at the outset of this best-of-series was their vast playoff experience when compared to the NHL’s youngest club.
The Hawks provided undaunted by their new surrounding. Instead of being awestruck there were resilient in both games 1 and 2.
The Flames had a pair of one-goal leads taken away in the first game before losing 3-2 in ot. Then they were ahead by a pair of goals after the first period of the 2nd game. The Hawks scored the next 3 goals — all in the 2nd period. Now they have a 2-0 lead in games as the Saddledome gets to host a pair of games.
Flame captain Jarome Iginla felt it was “totally unacceptable” that the older Flames couldn’t protect those leads.
Now instead of doubt, the Hawks have a swagger led by their 20-year-old captain Jonathen Toews, who had 2 goals Saturday.
The Flames now have doubt about their ability to solve the oldest Hawk, Nikolai Khabublin, who made 30 stops, many of them looking like sure goals. Khabublin has now beaten the Flames the last 5 times he’s faced them plus 4-in-a-row looking back to the 2004 Cup finals when he was with Tampa. Overall he’s 28-8-2 against the Flames in his career.
The Flames 3 hour and 15 minute flight home on Saturday night was their quietest of the year.
Now can the roar of the Saddledome faithfuls give them that one-goal edge? There season depends on it.
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