Dustin Wolf was oh-so-close to his first NHL shutout.
Millimetres, even.
With 2:31 left in the third-period, though, a video review denied him of that milestone when it found that a shot off the Los Angeles Kings’ Trevor Moore’s stick had just barely squeezed over the goal-line before the Calgary Flames (8-5-3) shot-stopper batted it away.
It was the only disappointment of the night for Wolf, who stood on his head to stop 28-of-29 shots and helped backstop his team to a 3-1 win over the Kings (9-5-3).
“I thought he was awesome tonight,” said Flames head coach Ryan Huska. “I was hoping that one he could maybe find a way to keep out because he deserved to not let anything get by him with the way he was playing tonight.
“But really good effort from him and I thought he was a guy who gave our team a lot of confidence in front of him tonight.”
Wolf was sensational on Monday night, coming up with big stops in big moments, including on two breakaways by Kevin Fiala and Anze Kopitar.
He’s been rotating with Dan Vladar as the Flames’ starting goalie so far this season, and both seem to be elevating their games start-by-start. In eight games between the pipes, Wolf has a 2.84 goals-against-average and a .913 save-percentage. There can’t be a single complaint about those numbers.
And Monday might have been his best game of the year, so far.
“He’s special,” said Flames winger Connor Zary, who had a great night himself. “He’s so good, he’s so quick. Just the way he plays the game, the way he reads it is unbelievable.”
Wolf was far from the only standout for the Flames against the Kings. Monday might have been their most well-rounded, 60-minute performance of the season.
They dominated early and then goals scored 36 seconds apart by Mikael Backlund and Jonathan Huberdeau gave them a lead they’d never relinquish, with Kevin Rooney adding an empty-netter to seal the deal.
Wolf, by the way, contributed on the offensive end, too. He delivered the puck to Andre Kuzmenko, who immediately fired a nasty pass down-ice to Huberdeau.
It was Wolf’s first career NHL assist and it happened to come on the game-winner.
“I didn’t even know that until Huby said ‘I think you let that (Kings goal) in so you could be part of the game winner’, “ Wolf said with a big grin. “Pretty cool, glad we can get that one.”
Here’s three takeaways from Monday’s game:
THAT’S MUCH BETTER
The Flames were disappointed in the way they’ve been starting games lately and vowed to improve.
They certainly did that.
The Kings didn’t register a single shot on net in the first 11:07 of Monday’s game, and the Flames had a few nice opportunities in that stretch.
They were the better team early and they carried the momentum they built in the first-period into the second frame, where they got the goals they deserved.
“I think from the get-go, I said this morning that we needed to start on time and be all over them and that’s what we did,” Huberdeau said. “I think doing it over and over wears them down and I think that’s what we do.”
The Flames were aggressive on the forecheck, kept things tight defensively and out-shot the Kings by a 10-7 margin in the first period. The only thing they didn’t do was score, but that’s a small complaint in a game they ended up winning.
There didn’t seem to be any magic recipe to what made the Flames better in the early-going on Monday night, either. They just committed to the little things that make them successful from the opening puck-drop.
“I think we were just simple,” Zary explained. “Right from the first shift, getting on the forecheck, that’s what’s huge for us, that’s our game, to keep it simple and get that going and keep making plays from there once we get in the offensive zone.”
SHOULDN’T GO UNNOTICED
Neither Zary or Kuzmenko scored on Monday night, but they were both consistently dangerous from start of the game to the finish.
Zary pulled off a beautiful dangle early and couldn’t quite score, but put himself in dangerous positions over and over again throughout the night.
And in addition to his gorgeous assist on Huberdeau’s goal, Kuzmenko was dogged on puck-retrievals and just generally seemed to be playing with a little extra jump in his step – or stride, in hockey terms.
“Connor was very fast early on, that was maybe the quickest I’ve seen him look at the NHL level and Kuzy was the same,” Huska said. “Kuzy ended up making an nice pass on Huby’s goal but I thought both guys made an impact tonight and at the end of the day, eventually they’re going to fall for Connor, he’s had a lot those chances.
“My main thing for both of those guys is they’re capable of doing it all the time and tonight was a great example of the type of player they can be for us.”
Kuzmenko has only scored one goal this season and Zary has only potted three.
They’re both doing the right things, though. You can’t help but feel like the goals will come.
OUT FOR THE YEAR
Shortly after Huska’s media availability following the Flames’ morning skate on Monday, the team announced that Anthony Mantha will be undergoing season-ending ACL surgery.
He hurt his knee getting hit along the boards against the Montreal Canadiens last week.
There’s not a tonne of analysis to be added here, it’s just a terrible bit of luck for a 30-year-old player who signed with the Flames to a one-year deal and was looking to prove he still had a lot more hockey left in him.
“It is never easy to lose a guy all year and he’s coming in here and wants to prove himself, and getting a bad injury like that is never easy,” Huberdeau said. “I feel for him and hopefully it will be a speedy recovery and the surgery goes well. It’s unfortunate, but we’ll think about him.”
The Flames had been hopeful that the injury might not be too serious, but unfortunately the news from the doctors wasn’t good.
“It’s awful,” Huska said. “Even when you saw the hit in Montreal you thought ‘OK, maybe he might miss a little time’ and then we got the news it was fairly significant and you do feel gutted for the player because it’s not an easy thing to come back from.
“With Mo, I think he’s going to do things the right way. He’ll get it done and get working on his rehab right away to put himself in a position to come back.”
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