When Dan Vladar snapped his squad out of a four-game losing funk with a 22-save shutout, he may have also put an end to the Calgary Flames’ goaltending rotation.
The Flames have yet to stick with the same netminder for back-to-back starts this season.
But after his goose-egg against the New Jersey Devils, it’s gotta be Vladar between the pipes for Sunday’s Battle of Alberta, doesn’t it?
“We’ll see,” said Flames coach Ryan Huska after Saturday’s practice, stopping just short of confirming the news. “There’s a pretty good chance.”
Certainly, Dustin Wolf will understand if Vladar receives the starting nod for Sunday’s showdown with the Edmonton Oilers at the Saddledome (6 p.m., Sportsnet West/Sportsnet 960 The Fan).
If Wolf had just delivered a donut, he’d be expecting the same treatment.
The 27-year-old Vladar wasn’t especially busy in the 3-0 win over the Devils, but he did come up clutch when needed. Most notably, he denied Jack Hughes on a pair of second-period breakaways.
“We didn’t give up a lot of opportunities but when we did give a chance up, I thought he looked really sound and solid,” Huska praised during Friday’s post-game presser. “You have to rely on your goalie in key, critical situations, and he was there for us tonight. I thought he did an excellent job.”
Prior to posting a perfect line in his first head-to-head matchup with his former puck-stopping partner and mentor Jacob Markstrom, you could argue that Vladar’s finest outing of the fall was an Oct. 13 victory in Edmonton. He stopped 25 of 26 that evening.
In this latest instalment of the Battle of Alberta, he won’t have to worry about opposing superstar Connor McDavid. The five-time Art Ross Trophy winner is currently on the shelf due to an ankle injury.
That doesn’t mean the Oilers will be an easy out. They torched the Nashville Predators on Halloween night, with Leon Draisaitl racking up three points and Zach Hyman scoring his first goal of the campaign.
“Leon has always taken pride, I think, in stepping up when No. 97 goes down,” said Flames blue-liner Tyson Barrie, who spent three seasons on the opposite side of this provincial rivalry. “And you can see he’s starting to do it again. You don’t want to let the big horse get going, so we’ll try to slow him down (Sunday).”
“Whether or not No. 97 plays, they have a lot of offensive players,” Huska added of the Oilers. “The forwards are really the strength of their team. So if we want to let them have room and space, similar to if we would have done that with New Jersey, then you’re asking for problems.
“So that’s a really big focus of ours — and I shouldn’t say it’s just against New Jersey or Edmonton. That’s the way we have to play against everybody if we’re going to be successful. So I just want to see the same commitment to that style of hockey.”
Indeed, Friday’s triumph at the Saddledome was the template for success.
According to Natural Stat Trick, the Flames served up only five high-danger chances.
In each case, Vladar stood his ground.
And so the losing streak — and, presumably, the goaltending rotation — are now done with.
“We can’t get too high because we started off really well and then we had that (skid), so it’s fresh,” Vladar stressed after blanking the Devils. “We’re still not satisfied with whatever we are doing. I think we’ve got even better than this, including myself.”
ICE CHIPS: In six starts so far this season, Vladar owns a 3-2-1 record with a 2.65 goals-against average and .909 save percentage. Wolf’s stat-line shows a 3-2 mark, a 3.19 GAA and .907 save percentage … The Flames and Oilers, through 11 games apiece, are separated by two points in the Pacific Division standings. The Calgary-based crew sits at 6-4-1, while their northern neighbours are 5-5-1 … Andrei Kuzmenko, who was benched for the final 27-plus minutes against Devils, was skating on the fourth line during Saturday’s practice at WinSport. Kuzmenko is tied for third on the team charts with seven points, but Huska wasn’t satisfied with his effort in the shutout victory over New Jersey, saying afterward, “he just wasn’t moving his feet all that much tonight.”