Monahan stars on ice and with sick kids
‘Gotta be productive’: Sixth-year winger has been prolific goal-scorer throughout career
The expectations, back then, were tempered.
It was Oct. 23, 2013, and thengeneral manager Jay Feaster explained how Sean Monahan would be sticking around for the entirety of his rookie campaign in 2013-14, that the Calgary Flames would allow his entry level contract to kick in instead of sending him back to the Ontario Hockey League’s Ottawa 67’s and that they would be monitoring his development closely.
“It’s not about, ‘This guy is going to lead us in scoring all year,’” Feaster said at the time.
Twenty-two goals and 12 assists later, Monahan finished fifth in team scoring that season.
Then came 31 markers and 31 assists in 81 games the following year to tie Jiri Hudler for the team lead in goals.
Another 27 snipes in 2015-16 in 81 appearances.
Ditto for 2016-17, this time in a full 82-game slate.
Last year, an impressive 31 in an injury shortened 74 games.
And this year, it only took the 24-year-old pivot 32 games to reach the 20-goal mark. He scored it in thrilling fashion, too, as the Flames generated an impressive comeback on Wednesday and beat the Philadelphia Flyers 6-5 in overtime after Monahan cashed in, tying it with seven seconds remaining in the third period to force an extra stanza.
“I want to be a guy that’s relied on in important situations, to put the puck in the net when you need a goal or if you’re out there on the power play,” Monahan said Thursday as the Flames enjoyed a day away from the rink and donated their time at Alberta Children’s Hospital.
“I mean, you’re not going to be on the power play if you’re not producing and they’ll try something different. You have to take a lot of pride in helping this team win and that’s something I want to do.”
Heading into Thursday’s action, two other players had 20 goals (Joe Pavelski and Nathan MacKinnon), four had 21 (Brayden Point, David Pastrnak, Jeff Skinner and Patrik Laine) and Alex Ovechkin led the league with 25.
Bottom line, Monahan sits in a three-way tie for the sixth most goals scored this season. Pretty decent company. “That’s not a goal I look at but obviously the situation I’m in, I play a lot of minutes, I play power play, I play overtime,” Monahan said.
“If you play those important minutes, you’ve gotta be productive. So, you put that stress on yourself to put the puck in the net and make plays and to make things happen and get momentum throughout games. When you play with the guys I do, it’s pretty easy to do that.”
Monahan became the second player in Flames franchise history to score 20-plus goals in each of his first six NHL seasons, joining Kent Nilsson (1979-80 through 1984-85). He is the first to do so starting immediately following his draft year when the Flames plucked him sixth overall in 2013.
Only four other Flames players have strung together six or more consecutive 20-goal seasons at any point of their career. Jarome Iginla had 13, Theoren Fleury had 10, Joe Nieuwendyk eight and Gary Roberts had six.
“I think you mature as a player over the years,” said Monahan about the milestone. “Obviously throughout my career here in Calgary I’ve played with some pretty good players. This year is no different. These are probably the best two linemates I’ve been with in my career and it’s shown.”
Referring to Johnny Gaudreau and newcomer Elias Lindholm, Monahan is not wrong. In addition to Monahan’s 20 goals, 18 assists and 38 points, Gaudreau has 13 goals and 29 assists for 42 points in 32 games, while Lindholm has 16 goals and 18 assists for 34 points in 32 games.
They’re one of the top lines in the league, in fact, and have been scoring goals and making plays for the Flames at an impressive clip.
“I just think we’re all on the same page,” Monahan said. “Obviously it takes time to get chemistry and I still think we’re building that now. I mean, a guy like Lindy, he’s responsible, he’s good with the puck and he reads the game so well. Everyone knows about Johnny.
“To add a guy like Lindy to our team and our line is pretty huge.”
The Flames have been jockeying with the Nashville Predators for control of the Western Conference and, after Wednesday’s wild victory, have a 20-102 record. They lead the NHL with seven comeback wins and, before Thursday’s NHL action, had the league’s most thirdperiod goals (49) and the best goal differential in third periods (plus-25). They’d also outscored opponents 5-3 with the net empty.
Wednesday’s game was also the 28th instance in NHL history of a team overcoming a multi-goal deficit in the final two minutes of regulation to win in any fashion.
The Flames are feelin’ it and so is Monahan.
He wants to make the most of it.
“This is my sixth year and this is the best team I’ve been a part of since I’ve been here,” Monahan said. “I think you can feel it. There’s a lot of new guys that obviously don’t know what it was like before. But we have special players on this team this year and we’ve got a special group. This is the year where guys have to step up and do stuff to make something happen and not let it slip away.”