Martin Pospisil stirs it up again against the Kraken

Sound Of Hockey just flagged Martin Pospisil running Joey Daccord again as the Flames and Kraken play the closing minutes tonight.

The game is live as this is written, with 2:14 left in the third period, so the score and the final outcome are still unknown. What's already clear is that the physical stuff in Seattle has people talking, and Pospisil is at the center of it again.

According to Sound Of Hockey, the Flames center ran Daccord for the second time in the game, and Brandon Montour came in and flattened him.

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The post doesn't say what the officials did about it, so there's no point guessing. What it does tell you is that Montour decided the second hit on his goalie was one too many.

Pospisil's season numbers fit the picture. He's at 10 penalty minutes and a -6 rating through 15 games, with 3 goals and 3 assists.

This isn't new behavior for him. Over his NHL career he has 218 penalty minutes in 181 games, and Martin Pospisil's fight with Easton Cowan last month showed he'll drag opponents into the mess himself.

Montour is no stranger to the rough stuff either. He's logged 27 penalty minutes in 13 games this season, along with 3 goals, 7 assists and a +5 rating, so a defenseman who can do both is exactly who you want stepping in for a goalie.

What Pospisil's edge costs Calgary

Running a goalie twice in one game is a bad habit for a player at -6 on a team that sits 7-8-0. The Flames can live with an agitator who tilts the ice a little. They can't afford one who hands the other bench a reason to get fired up.

That's a real tension for Ryan Huska. Pospisil's role is clearly to be a pest, and the Flames are 7-3-0 over their last 10, so the approach hasn't sunk them. But a goalie-targeting reputation draws a response every time, and Montour just delivered one.

For Seattle, the picture is more comfortable. Daccord has 7 games played this season, and his teammates showed they won't let him be run without an answer. Lane Lambert's group is 8-5-1, and a locker room that backs its goalie like that tends to hold together.

The Flames get little time to dwell on it, since they host Anaheim on Friday. The Kraken follow on Saturday against the Rangers, and Pospisil's next shift near a crease will be watched closely.

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