Monahan hurting after blocking a shot
Sean Monahan poked his head out of the Calgary Flames’ dressing room and walked down the hall without the assistance of an air cast or crutches and didn’t appear to have problems putting one foot in front of the other.
A good sign, considering the topline centre missed Monday ’s practice at Scotiabank Saddledome for what Bill Peters called a maintenance day.
Monahan, according to the Flames’ head coach, has been experiencing the lingering effects of a blocked shot early in the second period of Saturday’s 3-2 overtime win over the Colorado Avalanche.
However, Peters did not confirm if he’d be able to play Wednesday against the Boston Bruins, the next time the Flames hit the ice.
“He’ll take the day and hopefully be much better (Tuesday).”
Also taking a maintenance day was Mikael Backlund, who attempted to skate for the first few minutes of Monday ’s practice and left the ice after a quick conversation with Flames athletic therapist Mike Gudmundson. He also had a day off Friday in Colorado.
“Backs is a real good pro,” Peters said.
“We’ll see if we can get him in here right away and see how these other guys are that are taking some maintenance days. When Backs gets back in, we expect him to be the steady pro that he is. He’s gotta be hard on pucks, he’s gotta be a good forechecker and he’s gotta lead us by example by his work ethic.”
There was good news, however, as Travis Hamonic went for a solo skate before Monday ’s practice. It was the 28-year-old defenceman’s first ice time since undergoing surgery
to repair a facial fracture that he suffered in a fight with Vancouver’s Erik Gudbranson during the first game of the season.
Even two days removed from Saturday’s game, David Rittich’s performance against the Avalanche was still creating a buzz around the rink.
The backup netminder’s 19-save performance in his first start of the season allowed the Flames to stay in the action and put together a comeback effort despite falling behind by two goals early on.
“Real solid, real good,” Peters said.
“He had some good touches with the puck and did a good job with that. I liked him. An unfortunate one, the second one. It bounces off our stick and (JT Compher) ends up going bar-down. Not much you can do on that. He shut the door the rest of the way and we needed every minute to come back.”
Peters didn’t even mind his early celebration, which saw Rittich throw his hands up in the air as soon as Johnny Gaudreau crossed the blue-line, long before he had sniped the game-winner.
“I didn’t see it until after the game when somebody showed it to me,” Peters said. “You know what? I think there’s a lot of personality in the league and you’re starting to see it come out in the players.”