CALGARY – Alain Vigneault wasn't particularly interested in discussing the finer points of Sunday's game at the The Scotiabank Saddledome, the Vancouver Canucks interesting journey to Calgary or Jannik Hansens' eventful 24 hours and starring turn.
Maybe in a couple of days, Vigneault will be ready to address these and other subjects. But in the immediate aftermath of the Canucks 4-2 loss, there was one subject and one subject only on the mind of the Canucks' coach and he didn't waste a lot of time getting to it.
“That penalty that was given to me in the third period, all I did was stand on the bench and say, 'That's an elbow,' “ a seething Vigneault said shortly after referee Kelly Sutherland's bench minor call played an instrumental role in the Flames' win.
“The same accountability that is demanded of players and coaches is demanded of referees and that's not acceptable. There's no way we should lose this game on a call like that.”
Vigneault was asked if he'd been warned by Sutherland before the minor was assessed midway through the third period.
“Not one g-damn word. Nothing. I didn't use the f-word. I stood on the bench for .5 seconds and I said, 'That's an elbow.' And that's how I got two minutes and that's how they scored the goal. I'm done here.”
And so were the Canucks.
One night after one of their most inspired performances of the season, the Canucks schlepped their way to Calgary through a snow storm, took early control of the affair, then gave it away through some combination of unheralded goalie Danny Taylor, Sutherland's questionable call which led to Jarome Iginla's game-winning goal and their own fatigue.
Saturday in Vancouver, the Canucks dumped the Los Angeles Kings 5-2 — but the passion, the intensity, the violence of that performance was missing from their game in Calgary. Then again, so was the pressure around a goalie making his second NHL start; the big save from Roberto Luongo; and a little discretion from Sutherland.
Vigneault's penalty for abuse of an official came midway through the third period of a tied game in which there wasn't a lot of feuding between the two teams. On the play in question, the Flames' Matt Stajan appeared to deliver a high hit on Canucks' defenceman Chris Tanev, which went unpenalized. Vigneault's shrill voice could be heard from the press box – largely because there's zero crowd noise in Calgary – and Sutherland immediately made the bench-minor call.
The Canucks then killed off the penaty without a great deal of duress but, just as the minor was expiring, Iginla sent a pass towards Luongo that ticked in off Jason Garrison. Taylor, who'd started the season with the Abbotsford Heat, then made the goal stand up with six straight saves over the final eight minutes.
“You don't see those kind of things too often but it's out of our control,” said Alex Burrows, who has his own history with officials. “We have to move on.”
Not that they have much choice in the matter.
Aside from Sutherland, the Canucks had other problems on this night. After Chris Higgins opened the scoring, Luongo whiffed on a Mike Cammalleri muffin to tie the game. Taylor, the 26-year-old native of Plymouth, England and former Bakersfield Condor, Wheeling Nailer, Texas Wildcatter, Gwinnett Gladiator and, lest we forget, Hamburg Freezer, was the better goalie on this night.
“We had some shots but they did a good job of boxing us out and tying up our sticks,” said Burrows. “It came down to one bounce, one call and it went their way.”
The Canucks also appeared to run out of gas in the third which, given their travel day, was understandable. They were originally supposed to fly out after Saturday night's game but their flight was postponed by weather in the Calgary area. With a snow storm engulfing southern Alberta, their charter finally left Vancouver after 1 p.m., on Sudnay and arrived in Calgary 2 ½ hours before the opening faceoff.
“Obviously it was different but at the same time I think we've played a long time in this league and there's no way we can use that as an excuse,” said Luongo. “I myself was probably a little at fault for that in the first period. I didn't feel like I had my legs. I let in a bad goal. It just went off the tip of my glove and went in. It was just a bad goal.”
And the start of a bad night. Ask Vigneault.
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