Hunt's drought-ending goal one to remember

Dryden Hunt hadn't scored an NHL goal for 13-plus months. This one was worth the wait. Hunt, who has spent the bulk of this season in the minors, buried a beauty in Saturday's instalment of the Battle of Alberta. Better yet, it turned out to be the game-winner as the Calgary Flames snapped out of a too-long losing skid against their archrivals from Edmonton.

“Yeah, that was pretty special,” Hunt said with a smile. “It had been a while, so to get one in the Battle of Alberta, and in a pretty crazy atmosphere . ... You play a lot of games in a lot of arenas, but that was just a different feeling. Right from warm-ups on, it was pretty cool.”

Just as satisfying as the snipe, his first in a Flaming C, was a postgame compliment from bench boss Ryan Huska, who was asked for an assessment of Hunt's performance in Edmonton and told reporters at Rogers Arena: “I loved him. He was hard. He scored a big goal for us, of course. And I thought he did a lot of things the right way.”

After that sort of shout-out, it seems like a shoo-in that Hunt will be suiting up for Tuesday's clash against the Los Angeles Kings at the Saddledome (7 p.m. MT, Sportsnet West/sportsnet 960 The Fan). The question is, will the 28-year-old journeyman be skating on the first line or the fourth?

The Flames have a unique scenario — their second and third lines are essentially set, so Hunt will either be skating with Jonathan Huberdeau and Yegor Sharangovich on the top trio, like he did in Edmonton, or he'll be working as one of the checkers.

Andrei Kuzmenko was back at practice Monday after missing the Battle of Alberta because of illness, but Hunt remained with Huberdeau and Sharangovich for most of the drills.

“No matter where you're playing, you still have to play hard,” said Hunt, who has notched a grand total of 16 big-league goals in six different sweaters. “I think that's what makes guys versatile and able to play up and down the lineup. You can look at it both ways — you can play with skill guys because you play hard, and you can play down the lineup because that's the role you're willing to play.”

He made the most Saturday of a sweet saucer pass from Huberdeau, picking the top shelf from the high slot, a showcase of the wicked shot that made him the WHL'S leading lamplighter in 2015-16 and makes him a fixture on the power play when he's with the farm club.

In four games on this latest callup, Hunt has also been credited with 18 hits, the second highest total on the team over that span.

“He brings a little bit of edge,” Huska said of Hunt, who started the season with the Flames before being reassigned to the AHL'S Wranglers in early November. “The ability that he has to play with those top guys . ... When he was younger, he was a skilled guy, very much a skilled guy. I think he's just learned to adapt his game a little bit.”

ICE CHIPS: According to Huska, there is “no concern” about Jacob Markstrom's availability against the Kings. Markstrom served as backup in Edmonton, with Huska explaining that his go-to goalie was “not 100 per cent.” ... Jeremie Poirier has returned to practice with the Wranglers. The 21-yearold defenceman has been sidelined since October with a skate cut on his arm. He'd piled up seven points in four games before the injury.