Flames’ Milan Lucic downplays confrontation with Stars’ Jamie Benn in Game 4 faceoff

CALGARY, Alberta — The Stars-Flames first-round series has had so many beefs that it could be a steakhouse.

On Wednesday morning, another one became a point of conversation: Stars captain Jamie Benn and Flames winger Milan Lucic.

During Game 4, Lucic (34 total faceoffs in the regular season) took the opening draw against Benn, then gave him a whack on the arm after losing the faceoff. The popular theory was that Lucic took the faceoff to challenge Benn to a fight, one game after Benn repeatedly offered to fight Flames forward Matthew Tkachuk.

Lucic was asked Wednesday morning if he was surprised Benn turned down his invitation. He sidestepped the question with an attempt to rationalize taking the faceoff.

“Me and [Trevor Lewis] always talk about who’s going to take the faceoff,” Lucic said. “I’ve taken a lot of them when he’s been center on my strong side. I lost the draw, and I was mad that I lost the draw. That was it.”

Lucic is Calgary’s resident tough guy, a 15-year veteran with over 80 career fights.

Benn, meanwhile, has been fined twice this series. He was fined $5,000 for high-sticking Andrew Mangiapane in Game 3, poking his face through the net. He was fined $5,000 for tripping Lewis in Game 4.

“He’s made some plays that’s cost him some money,” Lucic said. “He’s a guy that plays with emotion. I know it’s not going to put that much of a dent in his pocket with the two fines. Right now, we’re just worried about what we got to do to win Game 5 here tonight.”

As the series has evolved, new combatants enter the fray on each side.

It started with Tkachuk and Michael Raffl’s bout in Game 1, then continued with John Klingberg’s fight with Rasmus Andersson. Klingberg fanned the fire after Game 1 by saying Andersson was “acting tougher than he is.”

That prompted Tkachuk and Klingberg to get into it in the early moments of both Games 2 and 3. Prior to Game 4, Benn was asked why he wasn’t surprised Tkachuk turned down his offers to fight, and Benn said “He’s a smart kid.”

Which brought us to Benn and Lucic’s apparent confrontation.

For Klingberg, Game 4 was the first game this series that he’s stayed out of the penalty box. He leads the NHL with 26 postseason playoff minutes.

“It’s a physical game, you never know what’s going to happen,” Klingberg said. “I mean, I’m not going to go out there and look for a fight, but I’m going to stick up for myself.”

Projected Stars lineup in Game 5 at Calgary on Wednesday, 8:30 p.m.

Forwards

Michael Raffl — Roope Hintz — Joe Pavelski

Jason Robertson — Jamie Benn — Tyler Seguin

Jacob Peterson — Vladislav Namestnikov — Luke Glendening

Joel Kiviranta — Radek Faksa — Marian Studenic

Defensemen

Ryan Suter — Miro Heiskanen

Joel Hanley — John Klingberg

Esa Lindell — Jani Hakanpää

Goaltenders

Jake Oettinger

Scott Wedgewood

Scratches: Denis Gurianov, Alexander Radulov, Thomas Harley, Andrej Sekera, Adam Scheel.

Long-term injured reserve: Braden Holtby (lower-body), Ben Bishop (knee).

Projected Flames lineup in Game 5

Forwards

Johnny Gaudreau — Elias Lindholm — Matthew Tkachuk

Andrew Mangiapane — Mikael Backlund — Tyler Toffoli

Dillon Dube — Calle Jarnkrok — Blake Coleman

Milan Lucic — Trevor Lewis

Defensemen

Noah Hanifin — Rasmus Andersson

Oliver Kylington — Chris Tanev

Nikita Zadorov — Erik Gudbranson

Michael Stone

Goaltenders

Jacob Markstrom

Dan Vladar

Scratches: Brett Ritchie, Ryan Carpenter, Connor Mackey, Adam Ruzicka, Adam Werner.

Injured reserve: Sean Monahan (hip surgery).

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By Matthew DeFranks

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