Flame out

Tonight's Habs - Flames tilt was very entertaining. The hockey was great. Unfortunately, the officiating was horrible. Quite frankly, I can't remember a poorer display of refereeing in recent memory. Luckily, it was equal opportunity suckage.

I lost count of how many Flames went to the sin bin after phantom calls and I also lost count of how many Hab players got a stick in the face. One of the referees was about 8 feet from Kipper when he clearly interfered Kovalev. It was a joke.

As for the Regehr hit, it leaves me perplexed. As I asked the boys at the Battle of Alberta, how is it that Koivu gets called for feeling up Kobasew after he had dumped the puck, but Regehr can send Downey to the hospital after he dumps the puck and there's no call? It was a clean hit, but it was certainly as late as the Koivu groping.

In any case, it was good to see the Flames come to town. It is a rare occasion. After losing to both the Leafs and the Habs, two teams who, according to most prognosticators, will be hard pressed to make the playoffs, one has to wonder what adjustments the Flames brass will make. The cameras focused on Sutter towards the end of the game and he didn't look like a happy camper.

The Habs got the "W", and that will make many fans breath a little easier. The Canadiens' "D" is quite banged up and a few people were worried before tonight's game. I thought Streit played well in his first game of the season and Mike Komisarek is looking more and more like a top 4 D-man. Souray was his usual self: a defensive liability. He did get two goals, so he did more good than harm. For me, Markov is the question mark on the back end. Last year, he was arguably Montreal's best defenseman, but he seems to be lost this year. Maybe he misses Bouillon.

Final thoughts: Beeg wants me to mention that Bonk is Radekal.