"Barret Jackman said earlier in the day there'd be no free pass for Daymond Langkow.

He wasn't kidding.

The St. Louis Blues defenceman gave the Flames centre returning from a layoff of more than a year a less than friendly welcome, smacking him toward the boards from behind in the second period and taking a cross-checking penalty in the process.

People who know Langkow's story were holding their collective breath hoping he wasn't hurt — the 34-year-old was playing his first game in more than a calendar year after fracturing a vertebrae at the base of his neck last March.

"That's hockey. It's gonna happen," Langkow said with a shrug after earning an assist and a plus-2 rating during 14:56 of ice time in his debut, landing on the top line with Alex Tanguay and Jarome Iginla for much of the second and third periods. "I've been crosschecked many times before and it's not the first and I'm sure it won't be the last. "