Things got testy Saturday night during Chicago’s 5-2 win over St. Louis. The bitter rivals engaged in a second period skirmish with (surprise!) ‘Hawks agitator Dan Carcillo smack in the middle.
Skating with Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane, Carbomb defended his new linemates by going after Blues forward David Backes (who’d made the mistake of tangling with Toews.)
Today, Carcillo upped the ante and called Backes out.
“Look at the guys he’s fought in this league,” Carcillo told the Chicago Daily Herald. “He’s a big guy and he’s tough, but he hasn’t really answered the bell with any really tough guys. He goes after guys like [Corey] Perry, and he tries to fight Jonathan Toews. You just can’t let that happen.”
Backes’ Hockeyfights.com page shows a wide range of dance partners. He’s fought legitimately tough guys (Andrew Ference, Robyn Regehr, Ed Jovanovski), some unexpected guys (Rick Nash, Keith Ballard, Ladislav Smid) and a whole bunch of Blackhawks (Bryan Bickell, Niklas Hjalmarsson, Cam Barker, Adam Burish.)
Backes -- listed at 6-foot-3, 225 pounds -- also famously fought Toews back in Jan. 2010, just prior to the Winter Olympics in Vancouver:
[Note: That was the second fight of Toews’ career. The first was against Phoenix’s Martin Hanzal.]
In reviewing Backes’ fight card, one thing is clear: He’s got beef with Chicago. This isn’t surprising given the Central Division rivalry and hey, let’s be honest -- it’s not surprising he’d go after the Blackhawks’ best players. One of Chicago’s chief concerns after losing guys like Burish, Ben Eager and Colin Fraser was team toughness and the ability to protect its stars.
And one of the chief reasons Chicago brought in Carcillo was to stop guys like Backes from taking advantage.