DEPTH CHARGE AIDS FLAMES IN WIN OVER WINGS
Supporting cast steps up with three goals, Lindholm victim of vicious slash to his leg
Secondary scoring woes?
Pfft.
The Calgary Flames snuffed out that storyline in a flash, with three supporting-casters — bottom-six forwards Sam Bennett, Andrew Mangiapane and Derek Ryan — lighting the lamp to lead the hosts to Thursday’s 5-1 victory over the Detroit Red Wings at the Saddledome.
The depth sorts also did the bulk of the offensive damage in their last contest, with the Flames sweeping a two-game homestand and improving to 4-3-1 on the season.
“It means everything to a team’s success,” said summer acquisition Milan Lucic, who collected his first point in the Flaming C with an assist on Bennett’s third-period strike and was saluted afterward with the Calgary Police Service cowboy hat. “I mean, you look at the teams that finish atop the standings every year, it’s contributions throughout. You look at the Stanley Cup winner at the end of the year, it’s not just two or three guys or two lines carrying the load. It’s different guys stepping up at different times. So you need that contribution throughout the lineup if you want to have success.
“Maybe we needed to get challenged a little sooner as a group about our secondary scoring, but it’s a good feeling for us to step up and contribute in these last two wins.”
A couple of the usual suspects also tickled twine Thursday against the Red Wings, with
Elias Lindholm boosting his team-leading total to five tallies and Norris Trophy-winning captain Mark Giordano notching his second of the season.
“It was nice to see guys rewarded who have been working hard all year,” Giordano said.
It wasn’t all good news, however, as two of the local marksmen exited early with injuries.
Mangiapane disappeared down the tunnel late in the second after a crash into the boards.
Early in the third, Lindholm irked Darren Helm — Detroit’s lone scorer on this evening — with an elbow. Helm retaliated with a fierce slash to the back of his right leg, sending Calgary’s first-line right-winger to the ice in a heap.
Lindholm was hurt, needing help to the locker-room. Helm was tossed, dinged with a five-minute major. (Lindholm’s role was not overlooked — he was called for a minor penalty for interference.)
Post-game, Flames coach Bill Peters didn’t have any additional news on the injured pair.
“Hopefully, all hands on deck,” he said, looking ahead to a twogame weekend trip to California — Saturday’s clash against the Kings in Los Angeles (8 p.m., Cbc/sportsnet 960 The Fan) and Sunday’s date with the Ducks in Anaheim (8 p.m., Sportsnet 360/Sportsnet 960 The Fan). “But I haven’t got an update.” If Lindholm, especially, requires time to recover from that wicked whack, that would be a very significant blow for the Flames. This is, after all, the guy who works alongside Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan on the top trio and is a regular in both power-play and short-handed scenarios.
If it’s any consolation, the lesser lights are finally finding their groove.
When the Flames arrived home on Thanksgiving Monday, only four of their forwards had scored in six games to start the season.
After victories against the visiting Philadelphia Flyers and Red Wings, you can double that. Eight of them have now found the back of the net.
“It makes us feel good and I think it’s important for our success,” Ryan said. “I think we talked about that early on in the first few games, where the depth scoring wasn’t quite there. It doesn’t even have to be scoring. It has to be just producing opportunities, being productive somehow — faceoffs, penalty kill, big hit, whatever it is. I feel like everybody throughout the lineup found a way to contribute in some way. Scoring was one of them.”
Peters fiddled with his forward lines for Thursday’s matchup and a new-look third unit — the familiar tandem of Ryan and Mangiapane with Bennett riding on his off-wing — was looking like a keeper before No. 88 departed.
That crew had already provided a couple of effective shifts when Mangiapane opened the scoring just past the midway mark of the first period with a dandy deflection.
Lucic was skating in that slot to start the third and that worked out, too. Acquired in a summer swap from the archrival Edmonton Oilers, the big dude — greeted with shouts of ‘Looooch!’ — plattered a perfect pass for Bennett from behind the net for a crucial insurance marker.
On their next shift, those gents created some chaos around the crease and Ryan was credited with a goal after defenceman Filip Hronek accidentally shovelled one into his own cage.
Although he didn’t get to enjoy the on-ice celebration at the final buzzer, Lindholm netted the game-winner.
Rittich’s 27 saves included key stops early in both the first and second — a denial on Dylan Larkin shortly after the national anthem and a great glove on Tyler Bertuzzi from point-blank range after the first flood.