STANLEY CUP : Vernon’s Defense Gives Calgary Big Advantage

After winning an important game over the Montreal Canadiens Sunday night to tie the Stanley Cup final series at two games each, Calgary goalie Mike Vernon addressed the frustration he and his team have with their reputation for being unable to win the big games.

This is not a new subject for him. In fact, Vernon might even be forgiven for slashing, with a big, fat goalie’s stick, at anyone who makes him go over it again.

But that’s not his way. It’s his way to stand in there and deflect each shot as it comes.

Vernon has won at least 30 games for the last three seasons. No other National Hockey League goalie has done that. But along the way the Flames have spent seasons at the top of the league, only to fall short in the playoffs. The goalie is the key in the playoffs, so a good goalie should get his team the Stanley Cup, right?

There is only one cure, of course. Win the thing and have done with it.

And now, the Flames are two victories away from stopping all this nonsense. They are playing on their home ice at the Saddledome tonight and returning to Montreal for Game 6 on Thursday.

If they haven’t won the Cup by then--or if the Canadiens haven’t won it by then--the Flames will be back home at the Saddledome for the final game Sunday night.

They have never been in such an advantageous position.

But in this series, the teams have been so even that a seventh game seems inevitable. Consider the first four games--Calgary, 3-2; Montreal, 4-2; Montreal, 4-3, in double overtime; Calgary, 4-2. That’s 12 goals each.

And Vernon is measuring up just as well in comparisons with Montreal’s young star in goal, Patrick Roy.

Montreal’s Brian Skrudland said: “I think this series has been what everybody expected it to be so far. The goaltending has been outstanding, both teams are playing great defense and that shows on the power play.”

Both teams are being asked why their power plays aren’t scoring more. The answer is the goaltending.

In his raving after Sunday’s victory, Calgary Coach Terry Crisp called a save that Vernon made on a shot by Mats Naslund not only the turning point of Game 4 but, quite possibly, the turning point of the series.

Vernon was asked if that save pushed from his mind the nasty picture of Naslund scoring the tying goal on him with 41 seconds to play in regulation in Game 3.

Vernon considered that for a long moment. He smiled and shook his head.

“I don’t think one game wipes out another,” he said. “We had dominated in Game 3. We dominated the first three periods and then lost it. From my standpoint, they had 17 shots in three periods, and we had them. And we let them tie it up with 40 seconds left. We knew we lost that game.

“But the guys kept their composure. This is a more mature hockey club than we had in ’86. We knew what Game 4 meant. It could put us out of it, or give it to us.”

And now, the Flames have the edge again.

“The key to this game is to get a goal lead or two,” Crisp said. “Mike Vernon played very solid in net. And so did Patrick Roy. But the Canadiens are the type of team that doesn’t need a lot of scoring chances. They probably have had the fewest opportunities of all the teams we’ve played in the playoffs. But, percentage-wise, they have the most goals. They don’t need that many opportunities to score.”

As Montreal Coach Pat Burns said earlier, the Canadiens don’t waste shots.

Hence, the magnitude of the saves--and the pressure. This has been quite a defensive series with a lot of emphasis on the goalies.

One of these days, Vernon is going to have to be noticed.

Calgary General Manager Cliff Fletcher was telling the Toronto Globe and Mail the other day: “The only difference between Mike Vernon and other top goalies is color. Ron Hextall has notoriety for his stick and Patrick Roy has notoriety for his twitch. Others have colorful masks.

“Mike just has a plain mask. He doesn’t have that notoriety. He just stops pucks.”