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Jarome Iginla isn't just the Calgary Flames' captain. In the words of Red Wings coach Dave Lewis, he's their "spiritual leader."
How do you stop a guy like that?
Light some candles? Hold hands and pray? Push pins into a voodoo doll?
You better believe the Wings will be thinking about it constantly as they face
Calgary in the second round of the playoffs, starting tonight at Joe Louis Arena.
Asked what would be the key to beating the Flames, defenseman Mathieu Dandenault
said, "Well, Iginla, obviously. Trying to shut him down."
For the second time Iginla is a finalist for the Hart Trophy, which goes to
the NHL's most valuable player. His 41 regular-season goals tied for the league
lead. No other Flame had more than 18.
"He's one of the premier players in the game today, without a doubt,"
defenseman Mathieu Schneider said. "There's not a lot of offense anymore,
and a guy that can put 40 pucks in the net is pretty rare nowadays."
Iginla is a 26-year-old, 6-foot-1, 208-pound right winger with speed and strength.
Off the ice, he has a reputation for class and grace. He has a ready smile.
But on the ice, he is known to throw his weight around. He has a ready snarl,
too.
He actually made his NHL debut in the playoffs, producing a goal and an assist
in two games in 1995-96. But until this season, his only other playoff-type
experience was the Salt Lake Olympics in 2002. He started out on a line with
Wings Brendan Shanahan and Steve Yzerman. He ended up scoring two goals in the
gold-medal game against the United States as Canada won the tournament.
The Flames went seven games with Vancouver in the first round.
"A lot of people I think were waiting to see how Iginla was going to respond
to a Game 7," center Kris Draper said. "Obviously he kind of showed
everyone and played a tremendous game."
Iginla gave the Flames a 1-0 lead in the second period.
The Canucks tied the game in the third, but Iginla put the Flames ahead again.
He was in front as the puck came in from the point. Instead of trying to deflect
it past the goaltender, as most players would, he stopped it, worked around
the goaltender and slid it in.
The Canucks tied the game again with 5.7 seconds left in regulation, but Iginla
assisted on the winner early in overtime. He has five playoff goals, tied for
first in the league, and eight points, tied for third.
"Iginla was awesome," Dandenault said. "He really stepped up
for his team. When your leaders play that good, it's easy for everybody else
to follow."
Said Draper: "Almost every time he's on the ice, he's dangerous. Even when
Vancouver was realizing where he was, he was still finding ways to get shots
off. The second goal he scored was a pretty impressive goal. He's a guy that's
playing with a lot of confidence right now. We're going to have obviously pay
attention to him."
The Canucks put defenseman Mattias Ohlund against Iginla almost every shift.
The Wings plan to match defensemen against him more than forwards, but he plays
so much in so many different situations that Yzerman said: "You can't just
have a guy follow him around the ice all the time, and we won't do that."
The Wings held Iginla to one goal and a minus-2 rating in four regular-season
games, and they were without defenseman Derian Hatcher for three of those games
and defenseman Chris Chelios for one of them. So they're confident.
"We've had a lot of success playing against other teams' top lines when
we match up against them," Schneider said. "We do pay very close attention
to other teams' top scorers. This shouldn't be any different."