Ferland makes the most of promotion to top line
Bruising winger displays scoring touch by potting a pair in win over Predators
With the blue line bolstered by a couple of additions in the past week, the hockey talk around Cowtown turned to a familiar topic: can the Calgary Flames finally find a top-line right winger prior to the NHL’s trade deadline day? Maybe they already have one. Crash-and-bang sort Micheal Ferland made the most of Tuesday’s promotion, tallying twice in the early stages of a 6-5 overtime victory in Nashville and showing he’d like to stick with the dangerous duo of Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan.
“He’s sneakily skilled,” Gaudreau said of Ferland. “Guys look at him just as a fighter and a big tough guy, but he’s smart with the puck. He’s intelligent, he can read the play and he has a great shot, too. He played great (Tuesday) for us and it was good to get a bit of chemistry there.”
For the past two winters, Gaudreau and Monahan have been running through right-wingers like a game of musical chairs.
Ferland has had several previous auditions in that plum post, but it’s never clicked quite like it did during a back-and-forth battle at Bridgestone Arena.
“I thought that he could give them a little energy,” said Flames bench boss Glen Gulutzan.
“Obviously, I didn’t think he’d pot two right away, but he has that ability.”
Ferland’s two-goal night in Nashville was certainly a surprise since it marked his first multi-goal outburst at hockey’s highest level.
On their first shift, Gaudreau dropped a pass for his new sidekick just a few strides into enemy territory and No. 79 stepped into a slapper. He was pretty sure he’d missed his target on the blocker side, but the puck deflected off a defender and Nashville’s starting netminder, Pekka Rinne, couldn’t react in time to the new route.
Later in the opening stanza, Ferland and Gaudreau raced away on a two-on-one. Predators defenceman Roman Josi seemed more interested in Johnny Hockey, so the 24-year-old Ferland called his own number and whistled a wicked wrist shot under the iron, one of those that hits the back bar with such oompf that it bounces halfway to centre ice.
“Johnny was yelling at me to shoot it,” said Ferland, a left-handed marksman who often works the off wing. “So I took the shot and I was happy it went in.”
Johnny isn’t the only guy telling him to shoot.
There’s an entire choir singing that same tune.
“All the coaches tell me, ‘When you have a chance to shoot the puck, just shoot the puck,’ ” Ferland said. “I think last year, and the year before too, I would always look to pass first before I would look to shoot. And now, I think, just being kind of selfish and shooting the puck more.”
Selfish seems to be doing the trick.
The broad-shouldered Ferland has buried 10 goals already in 201617, two-and-a-half times his output last season and pretty good pop for a guy who has logged the majority of his shifts in a checking role.
When he bumped him up the lineup in Nashville, Gulutzan stressed to the hard-hitting forward that he needed to stick to his usual brand.
“I did tell him that Johnny and Monny like assists, so that it’s fine for him to shoot it into the net,” Gulutzan said with a grin.
“That’s what I asked him to do (Tuesday) — ‘Just play your game, shoot the puck, be physical. That’s what those guys need. They don’t need you to play a dangling-type game. They need what you bring on a nightly basis.’ He did that.
“They need him to be physical. They need him at the net. They need him skating on the forecheck so they can create. And they need him to finish plays when they make them. They can make high-end plays. Johnny made a couple last night, and Ferly finished them off. That’s what he needs to do.”
As long as he does, he’ll be tagging along with Calgary’s cornerstone forwards.
“It’s not being afraid to shoot pucks and not over-forcing pucks, trying to find guys,” Ferland said. “I think you see Johnny and Monny and you want them to shoot it. But I feel more comfortable. I’m going to keep shooting.”
Guys look at him just as a fighter and a big tough guy, but he’s smart with the puck. He’s intelligent, he can read the play and he has a great shot, too.