Flames breathe easier with Smith
Minor injury won’t keep go-to goalie out of lineup for afternoon game against Flyers
PHILADELPHIA Upper body.
That’s all the Calgary Flames were willing to say about an injury earlier this week to stalwart puckstopper Mike Smith.
And if you expected Smith to be any more specific, well …
“You know, the neck-bone is connected to the back-bone, the backbone is connected to the hip-bone and the hip-bone is connected to your leg-bone,” Smith said. “So in turn, it could be lower-body injury, or upper-body. You guys can decide that, I guess.”
Smith smiled. Reporters smiled.
Every hockey fan back in Calgary must have smiled as news spread Friday that the Flames’ go-to goaltender was, as expected, on the ice for practice in Philadelphia.
Smith will be between the pipes for Saturday’s matinee against the Flyers at Wells Fargo Center (11 a.m., Sportsnet One/Sportsnet 960 The Fan).
“I’m definitely feeling better than I was,” said Smith, who exited after the opening period of a homeice matchup Monday against the St. Louis Blues, prompting a lot of fingernail-chomping among the Saddledome faithful when he didn’t even sit on the bench for the final 40 minutes.
“Obviously, you never want to come out of a game or miss a game because of an injury, but things happen throughout the season, and you don’t want it to affect the way you play or affect the team’s performance. So it was just better that I came out of that game and got things sorted out.
“That was an instance where I didn’t want it to fester and make it into something more than it had to be. I’ve been through at times of my career where if you do let it get the best of you, you can extend the injury for a longer period of the time. I didn’t want that to be the case.”
As it turned out, Smith’s absence was brief.
His whereabouts seemed to be big news Wednesday, with conflicting reports about whether he had accompanied the team to Detroit, the first stop on a marathon sixgame road-trip for the Flames.
In fact, Smith travelled that evening to Philly, unable to watch the first period of a lopsided loss to the Red Wings because he was still 30,000 feet in the air.
By the time he landed, the Red Wings were up 4-1.
The final score was twice as ugly — 8-2.
Smith’s usual backup, Eddie Lack, was hooked after allowing five goals on 15 shots. Jon Gillies, who has since been reassigned to the American Hockey League’s Stockton Heat, fished three out of his net on a dozen attempts.
Most of the Flames looked like they’d rather have been elsewhere.
The 35-year-old Smith, who skated solo Thursday while the rest of his teammates enjoyed an off-day in the City of Brotherly Love, insisted it was the opposite.
“As an athlete and as a professional, you want to be in games like that. You want to be a part of games like that and battle with the group,” Smith said. “Unfortunate- ly, I wasn’t able to take part in that, but I think it was one that we’ll take a lot of things out of, learn a lot from and move on.”
Smith has been a workhorse for the Flames this fall, posting a 9-6-0 record, a 2.63 goals-against average and .921 save percentage in 16 appearances so far.
TKACHUK SUSPENDED
Matthew Tkachuk poked the bear.
Actually, in this case, he poked the right leg of Detroit Red Wings tough guy Luke Witkowski, a gentle tap but nonetheless enough for the Calgary Flames’ snarky sophomore to be slapped with a one-game suspension for unsportsmanlike conduct.
Although the NHL’s Player Safety Department has yet to announce the banishment, Postmedia has confirmed that Tkachuk will be forced to sit one.
The 19-year-old Tkachuk was assessed a major for spearing Witkowski, sparking a melee that resulted in 84 penalty minutes during a third-period stoppage in the Wednesday’s 8-2 loss to the Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena.