It was a dream debut. A hell of an introduction.
Showing no signs of nervousness in his NHL debut, Rory Kerins followed up his solo lap with a pair of first-period helpers to lead the Calgary Flames to Monday’s 5-2 victory over the Blackhawks in Chicago.
“To have Rory come in and have two assists already … I definitely wasn’t expecting that,” beamed Flames general manager Craig Conroy during an intermission interview on Amazon’s Prime Monday Night Hockey.
Nobody could have expected this.
With his parents, siblings and girlfriend in attendance at United Center, Kerins provided the setup on both of Jakob Pelletier’s early goals. He is the first NHLer since 2000 to earn two apples in his opening period of big-league action and the first Flames player since Sergei Makarov in 1989 to record multiple assists in his debut game.
The 22-year-old Kerins finished with two points, two shots on net and a plus-3 rating.
Not to be overshadowed, Pelletier had his first two-tuck performance at the top level. It was a special night for a couple of guys who started this season as linemates with the AHL’s Wranglers and are now skating side-by-side in ‘The Show.’
Starting with Kerins’ dazzling debut, here are three takeaways from Monday’s matchup …
HEY NHL, MEET RORY
Twelve seconds.
That’s how much icetime Kerins required to pick up his first NHL point.
You could hear shrieks of excitement as they celebrated.
Still in the first period, Kerins won a battle along the boards in the offensive zone, then scooted away from the traffic, circled around the net and banked a pass off the wall to Kevin Bahl. The big blue-liner fired from the point and Pelletier was there to bury the rebound.
Even as Kerins averaged a point-per-game for the Wranglers this season, leading all minor-leaguers with 21 goals, not everyone was convinced his scoring touch would translate. It’s only one night, and this fresh call-up was working the wing instead of skating as a centre, but you couldn’t ask for a better start.
“Just kind of found myself in two situations where I just made a play, and then Pelts finished ’em off,” Kerins told reporters at United Center. “I know it’s just the first game and there’s going to be lots to learn along the way. One game is not enough to prove you belong in the league. Just gotta keep learning and continue from here.”
Kerins won’t be waiting long for his encore. He’s a lock to remain in the lineup Tuesday against the St. Louis Blues.
“I thought that line was excellent tonight, and I thought he was a big reason why,” said Flames coach Ryan Huska, who had Yegor Sharangovich as the middle-man between Kerins and Pelletier. “He made some composed plays with the puck, but he made smart plays too. He wasn’t looking to do anything that was high risk. I really liked his game tonight.”
SLUMP-BUSTER FOR SHARANGOVICH
Sharangovich sniped a shortie in Monday’s middle period and the resulting sigh of relief must have felt more like a gust, even by Windy City standards.
That special-teams strike snapped ‘Sharky’ out of a 15-game scoring slump. Before a patient move to beat Mrazek, he hadn’t tickled twine since Dec. 3 — and that one was an empty-netter.
“You need to just work. You need to just play your game,” Sharangovich told Postmedia before leaving on this four-game getaway. “If you look, I have a couple chances every game. I just need to finally find the first goal and it will come. After first one, it will be more easy to score second, third … ”
If this is, indeed, the start of a hot streak for Sharangovich, that would be a significant development for a squad that is always scratching and clawing to create offence. After a team-high 31 goals last winter, heis currently on pace for 15 in 2024-25.
“Once it did go in, it almost seemed like he was a lighter player on the ice,” Huska said in his post-game scrum. “Hopefully that’s a sign of good things to come for us.”
On a less-positive-note is the reason that the Flames were shorthanded on that sequence, with Martin Pospisil handed a major for boarding after a blindside hit on Taylor Hall.
Pospisil has a reputation and Hall was in a vulnerable position, so the NHL’s Department of Player Safety will certainly take a long look at the replay.
WELCOME TO THE CLUB
For anybody who earns their paycheques in Calgary’s crease, to be mentioned with these two dudes is simply as good as it gets.
Dustin Wolf delivered 23 saves in Monday’s blowout of the basement-dwelling Blackhawks.
The rookie has now recorded 15 wins in 23 appearances so far this season.
Why is that noteworthy? Because going back to 1980, when the franchise relocated from Atlanta, only two Flames puck-stoppers have hit that same number of Ws in 23 starts or less — Miikka Kiprusoff achieved that feat twice, while Mike Vernon did it once.
So yeah … pretty good company.
Wolf didn’t need to stand on his head Monday — truth is, he won’t love Connor Bedard’s marker on that five-minute power-play — but the 23-year-old did his part to ensure the Blackhawks were never able to build much momentum.
His best work was a sprawling save on Hall in the early stages of the third period.
When Wolf gets the nod, the Flames have now collected 32 of a possible 46 points — a .696 clip. Let’s not overdo the Kiprusoff and Vernon comparisons but as was the case with those two franchise legends, teammates must be brimming with confidence when No. 32 is between the pipes.