FLAMES CAPTAIN A ‘MONSTER’
100th goal exactly 11 years after first
Time goes by fast and, for Mark Giordano, there was no better reminder than Saturday night in Vancouver.
Eleven years ago — to the date — was the moment he scored his first and second National Hockey League goals in a 5-4 overtime loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Oct. 14, 2006. It was in Giordano’s hometown, and his accomplishment that night was slightly overshadowed by Maple Leafs legend Mats Sundin, who scored his 500th NHL goal — the game winner — to cement himself in NHL history.
Fast forward to Saturday’s 5-2 win over the host Vancouver Canucks, and Giordano, too, joined an illustrious club.
His short-handed marker at 11:37 of the first period was his 100th career marker, making him only the fourth Calgary Flames defenceman to hit triple digits as he joined Al MacInnis, Gary Suter and Paul Reinhart in the franchise’s record books.
“It’s pretty cool to look back,” said the 34-year-old Flames captain as the team celebrated its fourth victory of the 2017-18 campaign on Saturday. “It felt good to get it. I was sitting on 99 there for a while now, so it was nice to get it and get it in a win. It’ll be special to say when I’m done playing to say I’ve gotten to 100.”
Giordano’s career NHL stat-line is now 100 goals and 242 assists in 679 regular season games — all with the Flames.
Not bad for a guy that was deemed undersized and was never drafted into the NHL.
“It’s good,” Giordano said. “For me, it’s a pretty special accomplishment. Thinking back, it’ll be pretty cool from when I first started playing. To get 100 in this league is not easy. It’s pretty cool.”
But, of course, his worth is more than just numbers.
On Saturday, Flames head coach Glen Gulutzan said that it was the captain’s sheer effort that allowed the Flames to walk away from Rogers Arena with a victory, even despite taking nine minor penalties and giving the Canucks seven (!) power-play opportunities.
Giordano played 6:26 of shorthanded time, had five blocked shots and had four shots on net.
“I thought our penalty kill was very good, and our captain was a monster out there,” Gulutzan said. “I think that just looking at his will (Saturday), he pushed us through. Our penalty killers, they did a good job. But, yeah, we got lucky. You can’t do that. We’re dodging bullets here. And we’ve gotta get that cleaned up. Our specialty teams and goaltending are what is holding us in.”
They’re also being held in — or helped out in a big way, rather — by their offence generated from the back end.
Including Giordano’s opening strike, the Flames’ blueliners scored four of their five goals, with Dougie Hamilton netting two of them. Travis Hamonic also scored his first goal as a member of the Flames, while TJ Brodie assisted Johnny Gaudreau’s third-period power-play marker.
“I thought we were solid,” Giordano said. “I think we’ve been joining (the rush) and making plays. We got rewarded (Saturday), and it was nice to see Hammer get his first. Dougie and Brodes, all of us, it’s a big part of our offence is from our back end.”
But — 100 goals or not — the captain knows that despite the fact the Flames are 4-2 early in the season, the Flames have been short-handed 29 times already this season, which is tied with the Pittsburgh Penguins for the most in the NHL.
Sure, their penalty kill was the fifth-best in the league heading into Sunday’s action (89.6 per cent), but something’s gotta give eventually.
“We’ve gotta cut back,” said Giordano of the team’s recent penchant for taking penalties. “You can’t win consistently with that many PKs. It works both ways. Guys get tired that play on the PK, and guys that don’t play sit there for a lot of the game and don’t feel as into the game as they should. We have to cut back on that, for sure. We have some days to work on it.
“But I think it’s mostly about moving our feet and getting our bodies in front of their bodies.”
It felt good to get it. I was sitting on 99 there for a while now, so it was nice to get it and get it in a win. It’ll be special to say when I’m done playing I’ve gotten to 100.