Playoff berth on the line as bad blood brews with Kings
Consider the pot stirred.
As if Wednesday’s could-be playoff clincher at the Saddledome wasn’t fascinating enough, Calgary Flames rookie rabble-rouser Matthew Tkachuk sprinkled a bit more spice into the recipe after Tuesday’s practice session, responding for the first time to Drew Doughty’s remark that “he’s a pretty dirty player, that kid.”
“I expected more from him, honestly, than to go right to the media and start complaining after a loss,” Tkachuk told Postmedia. “But he’s a good player. He’s a good enough player where he doesn’t have to worry about any of that stuff. He’s a skilled guy and everything like that and he’s won a couple of Cups.
“He’s still a real good player, so I don’t think he’ll be too worried about it tomorrow.”
The Flames and Los Angeles Kings both have bigger worries than settling a personal score, but Doughty versus Tkachuk, Part 2 of Many is an intriguing subplot to what will be a spirited showdown Wednesday at the Saddledome.
With a regulation victory, the Flames will clinch a playoff invite.
A loss will certainly stick a fork in the Kings.
The 19-year-old Tkachuk has awareness and hockey sense beyond his years, so he knew exactly what he was doing Tuesday when he feigned disappointment in Doughty’s comments to LA Kings Insider.
The Kings’ workhorse, after all, had reason to fume.
In the first period of a March 19 clash in Calgary, the rambunctious rookie had bopped him with an elbow right to the kisser.
The Flames skated to a 5-2 triumph. The next day, Tkachuk was dinged with a two-game suspension for that shot.
Wednesday marks their first meeting since, although they bumped a few times before the final buzzer that same night.
“(Doughty) is a good player, so I don’t think his focus will be too much on me,” Tkachuk said. “My focus isn’t on him. My focus is on the playoffs.”
On Wednesday morning, the Flames coaching staff will be sure of it.
“We’ll talk to him. We know that there will be a little of a bull’s-eye probably on Matty,” said Flames bench boss Glen Gulutzan. “And not in a malicious way. Just that, hey, they probably won’t like what happened and they’re going to play him a little extra hard and he’s going to have to be prepared for that. But we’ll be prepared too. We won’t let anything get out of hand.
“They’re going to remember like any big hit or anything. It’ll be a tougher trench match for Matty than probably other games, but that’s what happens. That’s part of it.”
The kid loves that part of it. Already.
He’s too talented to be typecast only as a pest, but Tkachuk relishes the role of being a pain in the you know what and takes pride in weaseling under the skin of opponents.
In this case, he started a day early.
“It has no effect on me what (Doughty) says or anybody on their team says,” Tkachuk said. “If it was a pretty dirty play …
"I mean, nobody really did anything about it and nobody on our end really thought it was that bad. But that’s in the past. Tomorrow, it’s just another game and hopefully another game closer to playoffs.”
It could be the clincher.
The Flames have made an early exit in six of the past seven seasons, the only exception being their improbable run to the second round in 2015.
One of the problems was they didn’t have many guys who could make life miserable for stars like Doughty, let alone willing to then exchange snarls in the media.
Ask about his feud with the reigning Norris Trophy winner and Tkachuk talks with the confidence of a 10-year veteran.
Ask about the possibility of punching a playoff ticket and his eyes light up like a kid on Christmas morning.
“That would be so cool,” Tkachuk said. “I know this team hasn’t been in it too much in the past and I’ve just heard nothing but unbelievable things. Just to come in this year, it was just a perfect setup with a great team, great leaders and just a solid management and coaching staff that is on your side and really supports everything you do and they’re in it just as much as the players are.
“And I just think that it would be so meaningful to the fans here that have obviously been wanting a playoff berth. Other than two years ago, it was a long time.
“I think it would just be great for everybody in the city. That would be awesome.”
I expected more from him (Drew Doughty), honestly, than to go right to the media and start complaining after a loss.