– A slow burn: How bad was it for the Calgary Flames in the Chicago Snow of 1990? The Flames underwent a lengthy delay before leaving LaGuardia Airport in New York to fly to O`Hare Wednesday, but the flight took the scheduled two hours.
The bus ride to their Michigan Avenue hotel took three hours.
– Looking to get tough: Calgary wouldn`t mind making a deal for a tough forward before the March 6 trading deadline. The bait for such a player is speculated to be defenseman Gary Suter. There had been rumors of a Suter-Joel Otto exchange with Philadelphia for Ron Sutter and either Terry Carkner or Jeff Chychrun. Privately, the Flames claim they never considered that trade.
– Riverboat Mike: Hawks coach Mike Keenan should go into the handicapping business. Asked Wednesday about Mario Lemieux`s scoring streak for Pittsburgh and how the Hawks would defense him Sunday, Keenan replied: ”Mark my words, it`ll end tonight. He has scored too much this season against the Rangers and it`ll even out.”
Keenan hit it on the head. Lemieux`s streak is history at 46 games.
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– Pizza for everyone: Detroit Red Wings owner Mike Illitch, the pizza king, was so moved to see his last-place Norris Division club rally from three goals down to edge Los Angeles 6-5 Wednesday that he phoned the clubhouse after the game and promised every player a $5,000 bonus for the performance. Isn`t that illegal?
– Knocked off his feet: Winger Joey Mullen, the Flames` sixth-leading scorer with 48 points, didn`t play Thursday in Chicago because of a sore right foot. He took a shot on the foot Tuesday against the New York Islanders.