Calgary Herald

Eagles landed for Johnny Hockey

Super Bowl win reinforces importance of closing out games for valuable points

- ERIC FRANCIS ericfranci­s@shaw.ca @EricFranci­s

Wearing a grin the size of a Philly cheesestea­k, Johnny Gaudreau admitted his Super Bowl experience was an intense one.

Surrounded by teammates at a house party hosted by goalie Mike Smith, the Flames star was, by all accounts, consumed by fear that his beloved Eagles would eventually succumb to the pressure and greatness of Tom Brady’s Patriots.

Alas, after more than four hours of commercial­s, ribbing and some world-class football, the team he’s cheered for since childhood staved off the defending champs to win the organizati­on’s first Super Bowl title.

“That’s probably the most nervous I’ve been in a sporting event in awhile, probably since playoffs,” said Gaudreau, who grew up 40 minutes southwest of Philadelph­ia, in tiny Carneys Point, N.J.

“I was really nervous when Tom got the ball back there with two minutes left. But, a big fumble there and they found a way to win. It was pretty cool to witness that and watch that game. It was awesome.”

When asked how intently Gaudreau watched the game, Mark Giordano chuckled.

“He was focused,” smiled the captain.

“He’s worse when he has no control over the situation.”

Now Gaudreau knows what Flames fans felt like throughout the club’s six-game losing streak, which ended Saturday with a 4-3 overtime win over the visiting Chicago Blackhawks.

Having lost four of the previous six in either overtime or a shootout, the ability to finally pull one out playing three-on-three gave the lads a chance to exhale just in time for their six-game road swing out east.

Indeed, the relief Gaudreau felt late Sunday was mirrored by the whole team one night earlier.

“I think relief in the sense, mentally for the team,” said coach Glen Gulutzan, who later shared a Super Bowl story of his own.

“We wouldn’t have been calling it a relief had we won any of those other games in extra time. That kind of gets you on a good roll, getting that extra point and you get that 0-for-4 thing out of your head with extra ends. To me, there are going to be a lot of extra ends in these next 30 games and we have to be good in that area.”

Traditiona­lly the Flames have been solid while working overtime, winning more games playing 3-on-3 and the shootout than any team outside Los Angeles the last three years.

However, the recent string of losing all six games despite holding leads at various points admittedly played in the players’

He’s worse when he has no control over the situation.

minds. “For me, I was happy that finally it paid off that we played a good game,” said Michael Stone, whose club deserved a better fate in a fair chunk of those six losses.

“I don’t know if it’s a relief as much as, ‘OK, this is what is supposed to happen when we play well.’ ”

As the players fervently swarmed Sean Monahan to celebrate his overtime winner against the Hawks you could tell the players needed to break the cycle of gut-punches that played with their psyche.

The inability to close out games was clearly starting to weigh on them.

“Yes, because we felt we were playing well and doing some good things,” said Giordano.

“At this time of year that’s not good enough to play well and not get points. We need to get these wins and points and find a way to get back to the (playoff ) spot.”

Perhaps there’s no better place for the Flames to do that than on the road where they sport a 13-55 record, one of the league’s best.

“I said this before our last road trip (4-0), we’re comfortabl­e going on the road,” said Gulutzan, whose club kicks the trip off with the back end of a rare home and home series in Chicago.

Following their return engagement in Chicago, the Flames will head to Manhattan where they’ll play the three New York-area teams in four nights, ending Sunday. Juggernaut­s in Boston and Nashville await the Flames after that. All told, they’ll play a daunting six games in 10 nights.

Not everyone’s Super Bowl tale ended as well as Gaudreau’s, according to Gulutzan.

After a day with his family he sat down to watch the game, which he’d recorded on his PVR.

With two minutes to go, his recording ended.

As he fiddled with the remote control to try remedying the situation, his daughter looked up from her phone to inform him Philadelph­ia had won.

“So I didn’t get to watch the last 2:31 of the game,” chuckled Gulutzan, who admitted he fastforwar­ded through commercial­s, while joking he kept an eye out for the possibilit­y of “a retro commercial with Cindy Crawford.”

Alas, not all endings can be perfect, as Gulutzan and his club well know.

 ?? JEFF MCINTOSH /THE CANADIAN PRESS ?? Johnny Gaudreau looks for a rebound as Chicago Blackhawks goalie Jeff Glass stops a shot during Saturday’s 4-3 OT win at Scotiabank Saddledome.
JEFF MCINTOSH /THE CANADIAN PRESS Johnny Gaudreau looks for a rebound as Chicago Blackhawks goalie Jeff Glass stops a shot during Saturday’s 4-3 OT win at Scotiabank Saddledome.
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