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the past 10 encounters. New York had lost four
VANCOUVER -- It was an ugly throwback to another time. DeShawn Williams Jersey Store . The Vancouver Canucks and Calgary Flames engaged in a wild first-period brawl Saturday night which later carried over to Canucks coach John Tortorella being involved in an altercation in the hallway outside of the Flames dressing room. The opening minutes of the NHL game, which the Canucks won 3-2 in a shootout, was like a scene from the movie Slapshot. It brought back memories of when teams like the Broad Street Bullies and Big Bad Boston Bruins waged wars on the ice. "I dont think anybody expected that," said Flames defenceman Chris Butler, one of eight players ejected from the game. "Its been a while since something like that happened, five guys pairing off." The Flames raised a red flag by putting their fourth line on the ice to start the game. The Canucks countered with their tough guys. Game on. Just two seconds had ticked off the clock when all five skaters from each team taking the opening faceoff dropped their gloves and began throwing punches. Calgary heavyweight Brian McGrattan was left bloodied in a fight with Vancouver tough guy Tom Sestito. After the fight Sestito patted McGrattan on the back of the head. Minor league callup Kellan Lains first game as a Canuck was brief. He was tossed for fighting with Calgarys Kevin Westgarth, who has no points in 21 games for the Flames. Also receiving game misconducts were Vancouvers Dale Weise plus defencemen Kevin Bieksa and Jason Garrison. Shown the door for Calgary was Westgarth, Blair Jones, Ladislav Smid and Chris Butler. "They started their goon squad over there," said Sestito, who leads the NHL with 167 penalty minutes in 47 games. "I just dont think were going to be backing down from guys." Ironically, Sestito and McGrattan remained in the game. In the aftermath of the brawl Tortorella could be seen yelling at the Flames bench. Later in the period, Calgarys Mark Giordano punched Vancouvers Alex Burrows in the face. Burrows was wearing a facemask to protect a broken jaw. It was his first game since Dec. 1. The bad blood wasnt confined to the ice. At the end of the first period CBC cameras captured Tortorella attempting to go into the Flames locker room at Rogers Arena. McGrattan pushed him away. Flames goaltender coach Clint Malarchuk came out of the Flames dressing room after Tortorella and McGrattan were separated. Malarchuk followed Tortorella, but was restrained by several members of Calgarys staff and McGrattan. Much of the altercation appeared off camera, but another camera showed Vancouver defenceman Chris Tanev pulling Burrows back toward the Canucks dressing room. Tortorella refused to comment on the incident but made no apologizes for the lineup he started. "I know the other guy across the bench," he said. "Its easy for people to say well put the Sedins out there and its deflated. I cant put our players at risk like that. "With the lineup that he had, Im not going to put those types of players at risk and thats what ensued. Im not proud of it. Ive apologized to every one of the players involved in it. I dont feel great about it at all." Flames coach Bob Hartley was left shaking his head over Tortorella charging his teams dressing room. "I just dont understand," he said. "I got out of there. I dont need to get suspended or fined. "There is nothing to be settled there. I just dont understand what was going on." Hartley also defended his starting lineup. "Those guys are playing well for us," he said. "They got a goal last game. Were not scoring many goals. We had zero intentions there. "As far as I know they were the home team. They had the luxury to put whoever they wanted on the ice." The teams combined for 188 penalty minutes in the first period. Vancouver was called for 95 minutes in penalties. Geoff Schwartz Jersey Store . Calgarys Bo Levi Mitchell and Montreals Troy Smith will be the starting quarterbacks in a CFL season-opener for the first time in their careers. Both want to reinforce their No. 1 status. You can watch the game live in the first half of a doubleheader on TSN and TSN GO at 3:00pm et/Noon pt. Jack May Jersey Store . Blackhawks RW Patrick Kane came up big when it counted, tallying two goals and an assist. He scored the game-winner with 4:45 remaining in the third period, stopping on the right hashmarks, carrying the puck up through the top of the Kings zone, then firing a wrist shot from the top of the circles past Jonathan Quick, who had his view obstructed by Andrew Shaw.(SportsNetwork.com) - The New York Islanders have slowed down considerably since the last time they faced the San Jose Sharks and the Isles hope to halt a two-game slide on Saturday when they visit SAP Center. Tonights test will complete the season series between the Islanders and Sharks. New York recorded a 4-3 shootout victory over a visiting San Jose team on Oct. 16 with John Tavares providing the winning score in the fifth round of the decisive phase. However, things have not gone well for the Isles since that victory, which was New Yorks fourth straight to begin the season. Jack Capuanos club has gone 2-4-0 since beating the Sharks and enters Saturdays rematch on a two-game slide. New Yorks most recent setback was Thursdays 5-0 loss at Colorado. Despite getting blown out on the scoreboard, the Islanders were active offensively and outshot the Avalanche by a 40-23 margin. Semyon Varlamov was up to the challenge, however, turning aside all 40 shots sent his way. Chad Johnson was on the hook for all five goals on 23 shots for the Islanders, who failed to score on six power-play chances in the loss. We started really well tonight, we dominated play early, Capuano said. We have to start scoring three or four goals to win in this league. New York has played the last four games without Travis Hamonic, but the defenseman is expected to return from an upper-body injury tonight. Hamonic has one goal in six tests this season and is averaging 20 minutes, 33 seconds of ice time per game. The Isles are playing the second part of a three-game road trip tonight and are scheduled to close the set Wednesday at Anaheim. New York owns identical 3-2-0 records at home and on the road this season. Although the clubs earlier loss versus the Isles began a strretch of five losses in six games, the Sharks enter Saturday riding a three-game point streak. China Jerseys Authentic. San Jose went 2-0-1 on a three-game road trip, beating Anaheim and Colorado before dropping Thursdays 4-3 shootout decision in Minnesota. The Sharks went ahead 2-0 against the Wild in the first period and held a 3-1 lead when Joe Thornton scored just 1:37 into the third stanza. However, Kyle Brodziak tallied twice later in the third to even the score for Minnesota and Jason Pominville provided the game-winner in the shootout. Even at one goal apiece after two shootout rounds, Pominville went in slow and wristed a shot past Antti Niemis glove. Wild goaltender Darcy Kuemper then stoned Patrick Marleau for the win. Mirco Mueller and Tommy Wingels joined Thornton as the goal-scorers for San Jose, while Niemi turned aside 43 shots in a losing effort. We wanted the extra point and its disappointing when you give that up, said Thornton. I thought that we played a pretty good game tonight, though. Sharks enforcer John Scott is eligible to return tonight after sitting out the last two games while serving a suspension. Scott received the ban for coming onto the ice and immediately starting a fight with Anaheims Tim Jackman. Although Scott entered the ice during a legal change it was deemed he made no effort to play the puck before challenging Jackman. The Isles have won two of the last three meetings with San Jose, but the Sharks still own seven victories over the past 10 encounters. New York had lost four straight at the Shark Tank before earning a shootout win over the Sharks on Dec. 10 of last season. San Jose will try for just its second home win of the season tonight. The Sharks are 1-2-0 as the host and 5-2-2 on the road. ' ' '
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