Talk is cheap, but so far, it's clean

CALGARY, Alberta - It was nothing more than the normal trash talk between several Blackhawks and Calgary star Jarome Iginla in Game 3 before Flames coach Mike Keenan was asked to comment on Tuesday.

"I talked to Jarome about it today and he's fine with it," Keenan said. "As long as it's not racial, he doesn't care. The league will certainly deal with it if it becomes more than it is.

"It's verbal abuse, but not racial."

Huh?

Who said anything about race, but it's out there now, thanks to Keenan.

Iginla, who is black, took the exact opposite approach to the question than his coach.

"I can take that," Iginla said. "The verbal abuse is nothing. I'd rather dish it out physically."

The issue was brought to light by broadcaster Pierre Maguire, who works between the benches on TSN Canada telecasts. Maguire said during Monday's broadcast that he was surprised as how much trash talking the Hawks aimed at Iginla.

Several Flames indicated Kris Versteeg and Adam Burish were the Hawks dishing on Iginla, with one of them asking, "What have you ever done in this game?" according to an unnamed Flame.

Other than win a scoring title, two Rocket Richard Trophies for goal scoring and an Olympic gold medal, Iginla, a five-time all-star, hasn't done much.

Maybe it wasn't the brightest idea to rile Iginla, who responded with his best game of the series.

"They'll do anything to get Jarome off his game, but I'm sure Jarome has been through a lot worse than that," teammate Adrian Aucoin said. "Jarome, if you fire him up, he's even deadlier.

"From the look on their faces, I know there was some type of respect given him. They didn't seem like they were too willing to get in his face physically. A lot of times it was verbal, then a lot of their young guys backed down pretty quick."

Burish said he isn't going to quit yapping on the ice.

"I'm sure it's not the first time he's heard people yell at him and get in his face a little bit," Burish said. "I would expect the way he plays that it shouldn't bother him that much, but if it does then I'm doing my job. I'm going to continue to be right at him."

So does Flames winger Mike Cammalleri.

"I think the trash talking is great, but that's just my opinion," Cammalleri said. "It's fun and adds to it all. Sometimes some funny things are said and you have to smirk at it. As long as it doesn't go overboard, but I haven't heard any of that yet."