SPREADING THE OFFENCE AROUND
The Flames have been preaching a score-by-committee approach.
So far, there are many soft hands making the lamp light up.
With Coronato and Kuzmenko getting in on the fun Tuesday, 11 different Flames have already found the back of the net in the early stages of the 2024-25 campaign. That’s with their most dangerous shooter, Yegor Sharangovich, on injured reserve.
Across the loop, the New York Rangers are the only other team with 11 different marksmen at this stage. Also in double digits are the Boston Bruins, New Jersey Devils, Seattle Kraken and Vegas Golden Knights.
What those other squads have in common is that they’re all being billed as should-be playoff participants or even championship contenders.
For the Flames to be a factor in the Western Conference chase, one of the key ingredients will be to continue to get this sort of contribution from throughout the lineup.
Through four games, Huberdeau is the best of this bunch with three goals, while Andersson, Coronato, Nazem Kadri, Anthony Mantha, MacKenzie Weegar and Connor Zary have all potted a pair and Mikael Backlund, Justin Kirkland, Kuzmenko and Martin Pospisil have added singles.
“Maybe it’s an indicator of the way we have to play,” Huska said. “We have to use four lines and we have to use six defencemen because we’re asking the guys to play a hard brand of hockey where they have to be skating all the time. So you can’t rely on just nine forwards. Everyone is getting an opportunity to play so I think with that, some guys who maybe play lesser minutes are feeling a little bit more valued right now and they’re feeling they can be difference-makers, as well. That’s probably why we see multiple guys now on the score-sheet.”
WOLF GETS BEST OF BEDARD
Bedard, the reigning Calder Trophy winner, tied a career-high with seven shots on target in Tuesday’s tilt.
The important stat, at least from the home vantage point, is how many of those wound up behind Wolf. That would be none.
“I felt great,” Wolf said. “I was seeing it well from early on and I think there’s extra motivation when you see a guy like Bedard over there who is the next big thing. It’s rewarding to go out there and shut him down.
“I mean, the objective is to go out there and stop as many shots as you can. It doesn’t matter who’s shooting them. But it’s certainly pretty cool when you can put a zero up for that guy in a game. He’s going to score a heck of a lot of goals in this league and if I can minimize as many against us, that’s a bonus.”
Wolf has started both of the Flames’ home games so far and has provided plenty to howl about with a .944 save percentage.
When his team was going through a scrambly, stressful stretch during Tuesday’s second period, the 23-year-old was as calm as the top of a pond on a still autumn morning.
He stopped Joey Anderson on a shorthanded chance, getting his glove on a low shot, and then flashed his right pad to deny Teuvo Teravainen.
“Maybe a little bit of a tough stretch but I thought we kept the momentum because of those saves,” Coronato said. “Just all game, you feel confident. He’s so steady. He was great.”
Wolf’s stat-line against the Blackhawks also included a drawn penalty, with Bedard was called for a slash after he clipped the Flames’ netminder with a stick in the neck area. Kuzmenko cashed on that power-play.
“He’s a good goalie,” Bedard told media in the visiting locker-room. “I was trying to get as many shots as I could. He was good.”
Coronato is looking like a guy you can play on a fourth line. That’s a compliment.
During training camp, there was plenty of debate about whether the 21-year-old right-winger would be better off in the minors if he wasn’t going to be skating in a top-nine forward role, the sentiment being that it could stall his development to be deployed as a grinder rather than a goal-scorer.
In fact, it was bit of a surprise that Coronato cracked the Flames’ opening roster, although he watched the first two games as a healthy scratch.
Since being subbed into Adam Klapka’s spot on the fourth unit, Coronato has proven he is capable of playing the sort of simple, gritty hockey that Huska expects from his depth dudes and that Lomberg demands as their ringleader.
There was nothing pretty about Coronato’s first-period marker against the Blackhawks, but he was relentless in fetching a rebound off the end-boards and whacking away until he managed to propel the puck across the goal-line.
While the Flames weren’t envisioning him as a fourth-liner when they selected him at No. 13 overall in the 2021 NHL Draft, there’s no reason it can’t be a short-term solution. He hasn’t looked out of place doing the meat-and-potatoes thing and it’s always nice for the coach to have another skill guy at his disposal.
“The one thing with Matt, when he has a night like tonight where he works the way he did and his feet are moving and he plays with a lot of energy, he’s easy to bump up,” Huska said. “Later in the game, because he played well, he played more.”
One of those bonus shifts came in Tuesday’s final minute, when he sealed the victory with an empty-netter.
“My goal is just to help the team win and do that any way I can,” Coronato said.