After their first loss of the season on Thursday (6-3 to the Buffalo Sabers), the Calgary Flames got back to work on Friday morning with a structured practice to strengthen the team’s game off the puck.
Buffalo went 3-1 in the first half, chasing Flames goalie Jacob Markstrom after allowing three goals on 12 shots. The Sabers looked like the far faster team all evening, constantly pushing Calgary into their defensive zone and capitalizing on their lateral speed with the puck.
“We had another S— start [to] the game,” Flames defender Nikita Zadorov said of the team’s performance. “Too many fluctuations. Too many weird rushes. We didn’t win battles in the deep. We knew what Buffalo would bring and they did, but we weren’t ready for it. It’s totally on us, totally unacceptable.”
Friday’s practice focused on covering the defensive zone and stopping plays in transition.
After head coach Darryl Sutter put his lines in a blender Thursday night, he had his normal defensive duos and forward trios in action on Friday. Jonathan Huberdeau, Elias Lindholm and Tyler Toffoli, who have yet to score with equal strength this season, remain Calgary’s top line. Noah Hanifin, who missed Thursday’s competition and a practice earlier in the week, was on the ice.
After the loss, Sutter said he needed more from his young defenders. Connor Mackey moved into the lineup but looked overwhelmed in his first game of the season and only had one displacement in the third third. Zadorov – paired with Hanifin’s regular partner Rasmus Andersson – scored but also had two penalties.
“You get an opportunity, you have to take it,” Sutter said Thursday night.
Calgary is already missing blueliner Oliver Kylington, who is not on the team for family reasons. Veteran Michael Stone was brought back for a professional test and then signed to a one-year deal.
“Everyone was talking about our depth…that summer it was pretty disrupted by Oliver’s situation and then nobody but Stoney performed at training camp,” Sutter said.
Second row winger Andrew Mangiapane, down 3 points on Thursday, stressed the need to reduce scoring chances.
“We had to do a better job of folding guys together in the D-Zone and coming out as five together,” he said.
Calgary hosts the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday.
Flame lines while practicing
Huberdeau-Lindholm-Toffoli
Dube-Kadri-Mangiapane
Coleman-Backlund-Lewis
Lucic Rooney Ritchie
Ruzika
Weegar-Tanev
Hanifin-Andersson
Zadorov stone
Quirk
Markstrom
Vladar
Vladar signs again
Calgary’s goalie picture looks set to stay the same for the next few seasons. Dan Vladar re-signed with the team this week, inking a two-year deal for $2.2 million per season, nearly tripling his current salary.
Vladar, who guided the Flames to a win in Edmonton a week ago, is held in high esteem by the organization for his attitude, work ethic and professionalism.
The Flames’ goaltender department, led by director Jordan Sigalet, had been keeping an eye on Vladar after he was drafted by Boston in the third round in 2015. Sigalet received a positive scouting report from former Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask, and in the summer of 2021 the Flames sent a third-round pick to Boston for him.
In his first season in Calgary, Vladar played 13-6-2, with a .906 save and 2.75 goals against average. The 25-year-old, who was born in the Czech Republic, joked that it took him about six seconds to sign the new contract. The process was quick and uncomplicated.
“If I look at my game from last year and if I look at it now, I see a huge improvement,” he said. “I know I’m getting better here. I know I can trust Marky. I know I can trust Siggy. I know I can trust Barbs [goalie coach Jason LaBarbera]. We have a small team within a team.”
Markstrom was also happy that Vladar will be back.
“Last year he did an incredible job every time he came in,” he said. “You see him every day, the work he does. I was super excited that he signed a two year deal – for him but also for me to have a partner like that and then for our team… we push each other. he wants to play I want to play…obviously I’ve been in this league for a long time and I’m trying to help him as much as I can, slowing down the game and making the game easier.”
Vladar’s signing means the Flames can continue to have patience with Dustin Wolf, the 21-year-old who was named the American Hockey League’s most outstanding goaltender as a rookie last season. He has yet to clear waivers for another three seasons in order for the Flames to continue his development in the AHL.
Lewis a valuable teammate off the ice
Several Flames players have credited Trevor Lewis over the past year as someone who quietly helped transform locker room culture. In 2012 and 2014 he won the Stanley Cups with Darryl Sutter in Los Angeles. In the summer of 2021, Sutter called Lewis to assess his interest in joining the Flames.
“He’s just as important to our group off the ice as he is on the ice,” Sutter said. “He has set himself the goal of being a really good professional. He’s been like that for quite a long time… in some ways he’s a better player now than he was 10 years ago. First, understand your role. switch roles. These guys who have won championships change their roles as they get older… Lewy is one of those guys who could just stick with the program and keep it going.”
Lewis had to adjust his game shortly after being drafted in the first round by the Kings in 2006.
“I was playing in the minors and things weren’t going too well,” said the 35-year-old.
“I thought it was going to be like juniors where I was going up, playing power play and getting points. The devs sent me down and said that if I wanted to get to the next level, I had to be the guy that the trainer could trust and work on [penalty killing]work on bullies.”
Fifteen years after those conversations, Lewis is a Stanley Cup champion and a trusted veteran whose focus on details has rubbed off on his teammates
“Where are we going on this faceoff, how does the other team check, even in your structure or routine, just make sure your body is ready to go and you’re not pulling a muscle out there,” he said of how he’s trying to help other flames.
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