Chiasson: ‘I have to be smarter’
Forward admits he needs to be smarter, was ‘frustrated’ with Flyers’ agitator
Whatever viewers, fans, media, players and coaches thought of Alex Chiasson’s spear to the gut of Philadelphia Flyers forward Nick Cousins, it really doesn’t matter.
Because the official call on Wednesday at the Scotiabank Saddledome was a five-minute major for spearing and an automatic game misconduct — end of story. The evidence doesn’t lie either: Chiasson casually skates by Cousins, gives him a shot to the stomach and Cousins doubles over.
But regardless of how it looked or whether or not it was indeed as bad as it seemed, Chiasson did what he did.
And the timing of it was boneheaded, too. It was an obvious penalty directly in front of an official and it put his team in a challenging position of killing off a five-minute major served by Matthew Tkachuk while the game was tied 1-1, all of which Chiasson owned up to on Thursday following a brisk practice at the Scotiabank Saddledome.
“I just think with the time of the game, I just have to be smarter,” he admitted.
“It was a penalty. The rest of it is out of my control. I think I just have to be smarter. It’s uncalled for to take a penalty like that and to put my team in a tough situation, killing a five-minute penalty at that time of the game early on. That was what was frustrating for me.
“I’m an emotional guy and play with a lot of emotion on the ice. There was some steam that needed to come off and I was glad to see guys battled back from that.”
Flames netminder Brian Elliott was part of the reason the Flames were able to kill off the penalty unscathed.
But not only did Chiasson’s absence put pressure on the penalty killers and Elliott, it also put pressure on the other 11 forwards for the rest of the game.
“It was a needless penalty and a penalty either way,” said Flames head coach Glen Gulutzan. “We got the kill and we got the saves. But that’s a position we shouldn’t put ourselves in.
“I think there’s some history (between Cousins and Chiasson), there was a bit of jawing and slashing going on, but we’re at the point of the year where we’re doing everything we can to not put our season in jeopardy.”
Granted, Cousins was quite the you-know-what disturber on Wednesday.
He wound up drawing a penalty from Sam Bennett later in the opening frame and, shortly before the incident, Cousins had slashed Chiasson.
Still, retaliation — almost always — receives the brunt of the consequences.
“He’s good at what he does and gets under guys’ skin,” Chiasson said. “But I just have to move past it. I was pretty frustrated. It was a big game for us and I wanted to be part of it and battle with the guys.”
Calgary clawed their way back into a wild-card playoff spot with the eventual 3-1 win over the visiting Flyers.
This time of the year is crucial, even more so for the Flames, who have been fighting for consistency and trying to get their game back to where it was before the NHL Players’ Association-mandated bye week.
As for Chiasson, there was no word from the NHL on supplementary discipline for his spear on Cousins.
Good news, but it was punishment enough to watch the rest of the game from the sidelines. Guilt, of course, washed over him. Consider it a lesson learned. “Guys battled and we came up with two points,” said the 26-yearold, who has been playing on a line with Bennett and Kris Versteeg. “But I’m not that type of player. I play hard. But maybe emotion played a role in it. I just have to be smarter about it. Brian made some big saves and helped us out.
“But I have to move past from it and start fresh.”