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Dustin Boyd could have looked like a car-accident victim yesterday.
Yet, there was the Calgary Flames forward with some spring in his step after taking that hellacious check from Steve MacIntyre in Saturday night's 3-2 loss to the Edmonton Oilers.
"A little stiff, but it's part of the game," Boyd said after he and his teammates met and had an off-ice workout at the Saddledome.
"It definitely hurt. I'm a bit sore today. If I didn't see him coming, it would have been a lot worse than it was."
Early in the second period, MacIntyre -- who's being called SmackIntyre in Edmonton -- zeroed in on Boyd like a heat-seeking missile as the Flames forward headed to the end boards to retrieve a loose puck. Everybody in the building and watching on TV saw the carnage coming, and it was a boom as MacIntyre hurled all 6-foot-6, 265-lb. of himself into Boyd -- who is listed at 6-foot-1, 196-lb.
Boyd looked like a bug hitting a windshield, and crumpled to the ice in a heap.
To his credit, Boyd got up off the ice and didn't miss a shift.
"MacIntyre's a big guy and I saw him coming and knew he was going to kill me. I was trying not to get knocked out," he said.
"I was trying to make a play and hoping I could beat him. The puck was right there on the boards, I tried to turn, but there was nowhere to go."
To the Oilers, it was the turning point of the game and helped them erase a two-goal deficit. That wasn't the only time Boyd was on the receiving end of a questionable hit that night in Edmonton.
Later in the second period, Edmonton defenceman Jason Strudwick drilled him in the back. Fortunately, Boyd wasn't hit into the boards.
"That wasn't as bad," Boyd said.
