Lucic adds to resume with impressive results in the faceoff circle

Milan Lucic has already established himself as a fan favourite in the city, as a wise veteran in the Calgary Flames’ dressing room and, so far, as a force in the 2020 National Hockey League post-season.

But being a guy to win faceoffs and gain offensive possession/ zone-time?

Add that to the 32-year-old’s resume.

After Tuesday’s 3-2 victory over the Dallas Stars in Game 1 of the Flames’ first-round series, Lucic appears to be reliable off the draw, going 69 per cent. And that wasn’t after simply taking a few fill-in faceoffs after his line’s centreman, Sam Bennett, was kicked out.

The big man with all of the post-season experience was able to go 11-for-16, some against established draw-winners in the NHL — 2-for-2 against Jamie Benn, 3-for5 against Joe Pavelski and 3-for-5 against Tyler Seguin.

“He’s been good there,” said Flames head coach Geoff Ward in his post-game media conference over Zoom. “He’s got strength and does an awful lot of things with his power. He’s been good in the circle, so we just decided to keep rolling with him there. And he likes it, he likes taking the draws. For years, he never did. Right now, he’s doing a good job with it.

“For us, starting with the puck is a huge advantage, and he’s a guy that, right now, is winning a lot more draws than he’s losing.”

CONNECT THE DOTS

Get out your flow charts because this Lone Star connection is a good one.

The Flames, struggling during the 2015-16 campaign and falling further out of the NHL’S post-season scope, were ripe for trade talk around deadline day.

With the Dallas team poised to go deep in the post-season, Flames GM Brad Treliving struck a deal with Stars general manager Jim Nill to send Kris Russell to the Stars in exchange for blueliner Jyrki Jokipakka, Brett Pollock and a conditional second-round pick.

The condition would see the pick upgraded to a first-rounder if the Stars advanced to the Western Conference final and if Russell had suited up for at least half of their post-season contests to that point. That almost happened, as the Stars made it past the second round only to lose in seven games to the St. Louis Blues.

The world works in mysterious ways as the Flames were one Stars victory away from receiving Dallas’s first-round pick. Instead, Treliving hollered Dube’s name 56th overall back in 2016.

Tough break for the Stars, who only had the services of Russell for 23 games including 12 post-season appearances before he signed as a free agent with the Edmonton Oilers later that summer.

Starting with the puck is a huge advantage, and he’s a guy that, right now, is winning a lot more draws than he’s losing.

RATTLING CALM CAM

Through four games against the Winnipeg Jets during the best-offive playoff round, Cam Talbot was unflappable and arguably did not let in one bad goal. He posted a tidy 1.51 goals against average and .945 save percentage along with a 3-1 record.

But it only took nine seconds in Game 1 to throw the 33-year-old netminder — briefly — off his game.

Talbot was scored on back-toback by the Stars in the second period, on a pair of goals from Denis Gurianov and Benn.

The first came on a series of unfortunate events, after Talbot tried to move TJ Brodie from his sight lines, and was thrown off-balance and the puck ended up banking off Brodie’s backside and in.

Shortly after, Benn’s looked stoppable, as he lofted a floater from inside the Flames’ blueline. The shot wobbled underneath Talbot’s right arm.

In the end, the Flames were able to survive with a commitment to defence and preserved the win.