TAMPA, Fla. (CP) - Darryl Sutter refused to back down a day after calling into question the integrity of the NHL following Ville Nieminen's one-game suspension.
The head coach and general manager of the Calgary Flames said he didn't let his emotions get the better of him Wednesday when he hinted that people in the league's head office didn't want his underdog team to win.
"It wasn't emotional," Sutter said Thursday after his team's pre-game skate. "I told the truth. The truth hurts. Not everything you read or hear is fact or fiction, but when you tell the truth sometimes it hurts."
His comments on Wednesday drew a sharp rebuke from commissioner Gary Bettman, who in a statement called Sutter's rant "ill-advised, inappropriate and inaccurate." Bettman also likely fined Sutter but that won't be disclosed until after the series.
When asked about Bettman's response, Sutter only said: "Whatever he says." And when asked a final time if there was anything he would take back from Wednesday's news conference, Sutter had had enough.
"I am done with yesterday," he said. "It's game day. Do you want to take back anything you said yesterday? Do you? It's game day, let's concentrate on game day."
Nieminen, meanwhile, practised at the St. Pete Times Forum on Thursday, and said afterwards he was crushed at missing the pivotal fifth game of the Stanley Cup final.
"Of course it's tough," he said to a horde of media in the Flames' visiting dressing room. "I don't think I'm going to watch, I just can't."
Nieminen admitted he wished he hadn't nailed Tampa centre Vincent Lecavalier from behind in Game 4, a brain cramp that warranted his second one-game suspension of the playoffs.
"Is there anything in your life that you would like to take back?," he asked a reporter. "Everybody here has something they'd like to take back."
That Nieminen was at the rink Thursday confused some reporters after Sutter said Wednesday that the Finnish winger had not made the trip from Calgary. That turned out not to be true.
Asked why he decided to make the cross-continent trip despite not being able to play in Game 5, Nieminen cracked: "Because there was a seat available on the plane."
The likeable Nieminen had not lost his sense of humour despite being devastated at missing Game 5. He said he would return as fresh as ever for Game 6 in Calgary on Saturday.
"I'll tell you one thing, I'll be very well rested, and almost arrested," he said, delivering another one-liner.
"Of course I feel bad. It's a lot easier to be out on the ice than in the press box. I've had enough hot dogs already."
Sutter's comments, meanwhile, caught the attention of some players in the opposing dressing room. Veteran Lightning centre Tim Taylor said it was a good ploy on Sutter's part.
"That's a rallying call for his team," Taylor said after his team's pre-game skate. "He's saying it's them against the league. And I respect that. He's doing his job."
Tampa defenceman Jassen Cullimore was intrigued by Sutter's rant.
"I didn't realize the NHL picked a team," Cullimore said. "I think they're proud of both teams and I don't think they favour one over the other. In an ideal world, they might think probably that the two other teams (conference final losers Philadelphia and San Jose) would be here as far as the ratings go."
Cullimore said his team went through the same thing in the Eastern Conference final when Flyers head coach Ken Hitchcock exchanged barbs with Lightning head coach John Tortorella.
"We came through a series with Philadelphia where that's all the coach did was try to get under our skin and goad our coach," Cullimore said. "I think other than this (Sutter's rant), this series has been pretty tame."