[icehog3]

Joel, I absolutely agree that calls get missed all the time, both ways. I just think Pronger gets away with more than most. Here was an article I found on web today. Sorry for the "homer bias", but I have been waiting 40+ years for this.

PHILADELPHIA -- Dustin Byfuglien found out the hard way his matchup with Chris Pronger is lopsided in the Flyers' favor in one important area: Byfuglien gets no respect. Pronger gets too much.

If he didn't know that before, he knows now. Byfuglien tangled with Pronger in front of Flyers goaltender Michael Leighton midway through the second period of Game 3 of the Stanley Cup finals, as he had done throughout the game and the series.

But this time Pronger showed who's boss. Pronger pushed. Byfuglien pushed back. Pronger lost his stick, raised his arms and cried for a call -- and got it.

''Blackhawk penalty, No. 33, Dustin Byfuglien, two minutes for slashing at 9:31.''

Twenty-four seconds later, Scott Hartnell scored to give the Flyers a 2-1 lead.

A lesson learned. In previous battles against the Canucks and Sharks, Byfuglien has done the push-and-shove thing.

That Pronger is better than anybody Byfuglien has faced previously isn't the issue. It's that Pronger is a former Hart and Norris trophy winner, a 15-year veteran headed for the Hall of Fame who has earned more respect from the officials than he probably has from the rest of the NHL.

And he takes full advantage of it to get away with more than he should, Hawks winger Patrick Kane said before Wednesday's game.

''The refs probably know it, too,'' Kane said. ''But he's been in the league a long time. He gets away with whacks here and there that he probably shouldn't. But I guess for playing in the league that long [veterans] deserve that. But at this time of year, it really shouldn't matter.''

But it does. Pronger ran roughshod over the Hawks in Game 3 with impunity, elbowing Jonathan Toews and nailing Kris Versteeg as the Flyers avoided a 3-0 series deficit with a 4-3 overtime victory.

Kane agreed that Wednesday night's game was a good example of Pronger getting away with more than he should. But he had no gripes about that or anything else the Flyers did physically in the game. Pronger isn't the most well-liked player in the league by a long shot. He's an engaging guy who can be prickly, surly and arrogant when the mood strikes him. But on the ice, he's only doing what anyone else would do -- and should do -- if given the opportunity.

''That's the way hockey's played,'' Kane said. ''There was probably one big hit where my helmet came off. Besides that I don't know if they had any big licks on me.

''They're obviously going to finish their checks. But we can't worry about that. If you're worried about that, you're not going to be playing hockey.''

Toews also had no issue with Pronger.

''I mean, that's his job,'' he said. ''So he's obviously going to keep getting better as the series goes along. To us, he's just another guy out there. We want to focus on him and make his job tougher. But we know what to expect from him.''

Byfuglien had other issues in this one. He lost his cool when he tussled with the Flyers' Kimmo Timonen after the horn and was called for roughing.

''Buff is pretty composed,'' Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said when asked if Pronger ''got under the skin'' of Byfuglien. ''Buff has been a factor and something they have to be concerned about. He'll continue to battle and persevere, and do what he has to do.''

If the easy-going Byfuglien has reached his breaking point, it's an issue for the Hawks, because Pronger and his teammates will be sure to smell blood in the water. Emboldened by their overtime victory, they'll step up their attempts to push the Hawks over the edge.

''It's part of it. Every team is trying to do that to us,'' Toews said. ''Maybe we took too many penalties, and that's maybe what cost us the game. We'll be smarter. We don't want to be that team -- we've said all along we're going to be smart.

''We've seen teams take stupid penalties against us. But we're not going to let them suck us into playing like that.''

They kind of did in Game 3. It's up to the Hawks and Byfuglien to respond like a championship team should.