Flames hope message sinks in with Jankowski
The rookie forwards headed separate ways Monday.
One, Mark Jankowski, was on theCalgaryFlames’chartertoChicago, where the lanky centre will return to the lineup after a onegame sit-out as a healthy scratch.
The other, speedy left-winger Andrew Mangiapane, was flying commercial to rejoin the American Hockey League’s Stockton Heat for additional minor-league seasoning.
“I really think that young guy has NHL subtleties in his game,” said Flames head coach Glen Gulutzan of the 21-year-old Mangiapane, who has a grand total of ninebig-leagueappearancesonhis resume and logged only one shift in the third period of Saturday’s 4-3 overtime triumph against the Chicago Blackhawks.
“(Mangiapane) needs more time and more games. And when we’re healthy here, we’re not in the businessoftakingaguywhoisdeveloping at a rapid rate and sitting him. We want to make sure that he gets his repetitions in and that’s what we did with that move.
“For him, it’s a positive. I think it was only four years ago that he was playing midget hockey. He is absorbing right now and what we hopeheleavesherewith, inhisown mind because you don’t know, is ‘I can play there’ and ‘I know what I have to do to play there’ and he goes out and does it, especially in the summer.”
Jankowski is staying, that was never in doubt.
When a tweener isn’t quite up to snuff, they get a plane ticket.
When a regular isn’t quite up to stuff, sometimes they get a pressbox stint.
“It’s a wake-up,” Gulutzan said. “But I’ll be honest with you, it was not easy with (Jankowski) not in the lineup. When he’s playing his game, we’re just a better team.”
The 23-year-old Jankowski said all the right things before Monday’s jet-away, acknowledging he needs to rise to the challenge.
You can’t measure performance by only goals and assists, but there’snowaytosugar-coatthathe has been blanked in eight straight games, his longest dry spell of the season.
“I knew the last few games, it wasn’t up to my standard,” Jankowski said. “You want to be out there, you want to be helping the team and I felt like I just wasn’t up to how I know I can play and how I know I can help this team.
“For me, it’s just taking this the right way. And then next time I get my opportunity really prove that I can still be a huge asset to this team.”
That opportunity comes Tuesday. Jankowski will be back in his usual spot — manning the middle on the third line — for a rematch against the Blackhawks at United Center(6:30p.m., SportsnetWest/ Sportsnet 960 The Fan).
The Windy City is the first stop for the Flames on a six-game road swing, a gruelling junket that would be more frightening if not for a bizarre habit of playing their best hockey in enemy rinks.
Theirtripitineraryalsoincluded dates with the New Jersey Devils, New York Rangers, New York Islanders, Boston Bruins and Nashville Predators.
Mangiapane’s next action comes Saturday, when the Heat visit Grand Rapids, Mich. After averaging only 8:28 in nine skates so far at hockey’s highest level, he’ll once again be a go-to guy in the minors.
Asixth-rounderinthe2015NHL draft, Mangiapane has quickly proven he could be a big part of the future plans at the Saddledome.
The Flames need Jankowski, his former linemate in Stockton, to be a big part right now.
“I think everyone, when you’re getting scratched, you should be pissed off. You shouldn’t be happy about it,” Jankowski said. “You want to be out there and be helping the team because I think I can.”