Communication key to success for Flames’ top defence duo
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Rasmus Andersson is a talkative type.
In the locker-room, he is constantly chirping back and forth with his teammates. During game action, as soon as the whistle blows, you know one of the opponents is getting an earful.
“Yeah, Razzy is a competitive guy and he likes to mix it up and get in those scrums and agitate a little bit,” grinned Noah Hanifin, Andersson’s partner on the Calgary Flames’ top defence pairing. “I’m usually just coming in there and trying to back him up. But it’s great. I like that bite with him.”
Andersson isn’t afraid to speak his mind with Hanifin, either. And vice versa.
In fact, both think that an open and honest line of communication has been an essential ingredient to their success this season.
They’ve been dependable in their own zone.
They’ve been dangerous in offensive territory.
They both made major contributions in Tuesday’s epic comeback in Nashville, where the Flames stayed true to their promise not to ease off the gas any after clinching the top seed in the Pacific Division.
“I think we’ve both been playing really well, especially after the all-star break. I think we’ve been kind of clicking almost every single game,” Andersson said. “I think we’re really comfortable with each other and we can speak the truth and there’s no hard feelings if someone tells the other guy to get going. If Hanny gives it to me, I’m not going to go around for two days being mad at him. That’s not how it works, and I think that’s important. There’s no B.S. between us. I think that’s what is good about it.”
The Flames have a good thing going with this workhorse tandem, and it’s significant — albeit not surprising — that they were superb Tuesday in what Andersson described as being “as close to a playoff game as you could come.”
Hanifin tallied early in the third period — hitting double digits in goals scored this season — and then scrambled to shovel the puck toward the net after his one-timer was blocked in the dying seconds. That left Matthew Tkachuk with just enough time to stuff a buzzer-beater past David Rittich to force overtime.
In a 5-4 thriller, Andersson was on the ice for four goals by the Flames and none by the other guys. With the primary assist on Elias Lindholm’s sudden-death strike, his second helper of the evening, he completed his climb to the 50-point plateau.
Heading into Thursday’s matchup with the Minnesota Wild, the second-to-last outing on Calgary’s regularseason slate, Hanifin needs just two points to join that same club.
You have to go back to 1992-93 for the last time that a pair of blue-line buddies both hit the halfway-to-ahundred mark in the Flaming C logo.
“It’s something that I’m proud of but as I’ve said before, when the team is winning, when the team is going good, a lot of guys are going to have career years, and I’m one of a few,” Andersson said Wednesday of his personal milestone. “But, I mean, 50 points is something I’ll remember.”
The ultimate goal, of course, is to make memories in May and June.
Andersson and Hanifin, a consistent combo going back to the fall, are both key to that quest.
While the Flames are still waiting to find out if they’ll be facing the Nashville Predators or the Dallas Stars in the opening round of the 2022 Stanley Cup playoffs, this much is already certain — these 25-year-old sidekicks will be seeing plenty of the most prolific shooters in enemy silks.
“You have to take a lot of pride in that,” Hanifin said. “It’s a hard job. It’s difficult when you’re always playing against top players on the other team and it’s a big responsibility and I think both of us have kind of worked our way up the ladder a bit in different ways and now I think we both feel confident in being side-by-side and playing against those top guys. Obviously, come playoff time, it’s going to be a big role. It’s going to be an intense process for us. But I think we’re both excited for it.”