FLAMES KEEP GOOD TIMES ROLLING
Giordano gets thumbs-up from iconic commentator
A pair of wins, two more tallies and a shout-out from the iconic, opinionated star of Coach’s Corner.
Yeah, it was a pretty good weekend for Mark Giordano.
The Calgary Flames’ captain and blueline ace was a stud once again in a 7-2 shellacking of the St. Louis Blues in Sunday’s matinee in the Show-me State, proving that Don Cherry was bang-on when he suggested the previous evening that Giordano deserves more love as one of the NHL’S top defencemen.
“I didn’t hear it, but a lot of buddies and my dad, for sure, heard it,” said Giordano of that acclaim from Grapes. “It’s always nice. That’s a guy I grew up watching for my entire life and still tune in when I can before our games on Saturdays.
“When you think about hockey and when you think about growing up, Don Cherry is one of the first memories that comes to mind — watching him and watching his Rock ’Em Sock ’Em videos.”
This current cast of Flames is thumping opponents in a totally different way.
Giordano assisted on the opening strike, scored the would-be game-winner on a slapper from the point and, per usual, topped his team in ice time as the Flames exploded for four goals in the opening period of Sunday’s clash with the Blues and then managed to maintain a sizable lead even as their fatigue started to show.
Johnny Gaudreau and Alan Quine each potted a pair in the blowout, while St. Louis-raised Matthew Tkachuk and Elias Lindholm notched singles. It was Tkachuk’s first career goal in his hometown. His father, Keith, played nine seasons with the Blues.
The crew from Calgary has now triumphed eight times in their past nine outings, creating a bit of a cushion at the top of the Pacific Division standings.
“We’re a deep team. We’re a good team,” Giordano said after the Flames improved to 12-2-1 in the past month by beating up on the Blues. “I think the belief is there right now, and we have to continue that feeling.
“It’s going to get tougher. The games, I think, are going to become tighter and tighter as the year goes on.
“But any time that you can pile up some points before the halfway point of the season and get in a good spot, I think it’s a good thing.”
It’s still early, but as the pundits piece together their mid-season awards, expect to hear a lot of chatter about Giordano as an early front-runner for the Norris Trophy.
On Saturday, as the Flames skedaddled from St. Paul to St. Louis for the second half of this rare afternoon doubleheader, Cherry was raving about the 35-year-old during his weekly sound-off on Hockey Night in Canada.
“I don’t understand why this guy is not mentioned,” Cherry said. “He does everything. He scores goals. He fights. He blocks shots.
“He does everything, and he is never, ever mentioned. I don’t understand it. He is a tough guy. They’re lucky to have him.”
Certainly more and more folks are taking notice of the workhorse in No. 5 for the Flames. Now riding a three-game goal-scoring streak, Giordano finds himself in a four-way tie for top spot among the NHL’S most productive point-men.
“He’s unbelievable,” Tkachuk said. “You see the impact he has at five-on-five, power play and penalty-kill. He can do it all. He’s one of the best, if not the best D in the league, that does it.”
Tkachuk opened Sunday’s scoring on the power play, parking at the edge of the blue paint and deflecting Giordano’s wrister before spinning to bury the rebound.
Lindholm doubled the lead with a shortie, stealing the puck from Blues defenceman Colton Parayko and going bottom-bunk on the breakaway, and the Flames continued to surge with yet another special-teams snipe — Giordano’s howitzer on the man-advantage — and then Quine’s cashed rebound.
The Blues seemed to wake up a bit after a goaltending change at the first intermission, but it was already too late.
Just three minutes after Oskar Sundqvist put the hosts on the board, Gaudreau picked his favourite spot — top shelf, short side — to restore the four-goal buffer. If you rewind the tape, that sequence started with a crafty poke-check by Giordano as Blues rookie forward Robert Thomas tried to dance into the slot.
David Rittich finished with 26 saves in Calgary’s crease, an impressive showing by a guy who was starting on back-to-back days for the first time in his big-league career.
The locals pulled their goalie with plenty of time on the clock, but Gaudreau sealed the win with an empty-netter. With Jordan Binnington back between the pipes, Quine tickled twine for the third time in five outings since his call-up.
The Flames will conclude this three-game trek with Tuesday’s tussle against the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center (6:30 p.m. Mt/sportsnet West/sportsnet 960 The Fan).
RYCHEL RECALLED
This sort of call will snap a guy out of his slumber.
Kerby Rychel was just finished the snoozy portion of his pregame routine Saturday when the 24-year-old left-wing received word that he wouldn’t be in the lineup that evening for the American Hockey League’s Stockton Heat. Instead, he needed to pack a suitcase and hustle to join the Flames in St. Louis.
“I was getting ready for a game in Stockton, had just woke up from my nap,” Rychel said. “And instead of going to the rink, I guess I was going to the airport.”
Acquired this summer in minor-league swap from the Montreal Canadiens and currently on a two-way contract, Rychel skated on Calgary’s fourth unit during Sunday’s victory against the Blues. Although he finished with a minus-1 rating, Flames coach Bill Peters was quick to point out that the latest arrival was providing a net-front presence on Alan Quine’s late power-play goal.
AROUND THE BOARDS
Seventeen goals equals a career high for Elias Lindholm, and I haven’t even started my Christmas shopping yet … Good news and bad news — shutdown centre Mikael Backlund returned to action Sunday after missing four contests due to a concussion, but fellow second-liner Sam Bennett was a spectator due to an upperbody injury. There is optimism the 22-year-old Bennett, one shy of hitting the 100-point plateau, will only miss the lone contest … Flames alternate captain Matthew Tkachuk knows every nook and cranny of Enterprise Center. He was raised around this rink while his father, Keith, starred for the Blues. Now 21, Tkachuk fulfilled a childhood dream with Sunday’s opening tally. In four previous trips back to St. Louis with the Flames, he had collected four assists but was still waiting to find the back of the net. “I said it in between periods — I’ve scored a million goals in that net and a million times, I pictured myself in the NHL scoring that goal,” Tkachuk said. “To do it against the Blues, it was definitely neat.”
OFF THE GLASS
With the Flames wanting to reward Rychel, rookie left-winger Andrew Mangiapane was dispatched to California-based affiliate. Mangiapane, 22, has been a scoresheet-stuffer in Stockton but has yet to register a point in 17 appearances with the big club. His ears might still be ringing after he clanked the post two weekends ago in Chicago … Every call-up hopes to make an immediate offensive impression. The 25-year-old Quine has done exactly that, with three markers in five auditions since his arrival.