Flames focus on play without the puck after first loss

After their first loss of the season on Thursday (6-3 to the Buffalo Sabres), the Calgary Flames got back to work Friday morning with a structured practice aimed at shoring up the team’s play without the puck.

Buffalo jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the first period, chasing Flames goalie Jacob Markstrom after he allowed three goals on 12 shots. The Sabres looked like the far quicker team throughout the evening, constantly hemming Calgary in their defensive zone and using their lateral speed with the puck. 

“We had another s--- start [to] the game,” Flames defenceman Nikita Zadorov said of the team’s effort. “Too many turnovers. Too many odd-man rushes. We weren’t winning any battles down low. We knew what Buffalo was going to bring and that’s what they did, but we weren’t ready for it. It’s totally on us, totally unacceptable.”

Friday’s practice focused on defensive zone coverage and stopping plays in transition.

After putting his lines in a blender on Thursday night, head coach Darryl Sutter had his normal defensive duos and forward trios out on Friday. Jonathan Huberdeau, Elias Lindholm, and Tyler Toffoli, who have not scored at even-strength yet this season, remain Calgary’s top line. Noah Hanifin, who missed Thursday’s contest and a practice earlier in the week, was on the ice.

After the loss, Sutter said he needed more out of his young defencemen. Connor Mackey drew into the lineup but looked overmatched in his first game of the season and had just one shift in the third period. Zadorov – paired with Hanifin’s regular partner Rasmus Andersson – scored, but also took two penalties.

"You get an opportunity, you've got to take advantage of it,” Sutter said Thursday night.

Calgary is already missing blueliner Oliver Kylington, who is away from the team because of family matters. Veteran Michael Stone was brought back on a professional tryout and then signed a one-year deal. 

“Everybody talked about our depth…this summer, well it got quite a bit disrupted with Oliver's situation and then nobody stepping up in training camp other than Stoney," Sutter said.

Second-line winger Andrew Mangiapane, who was a minus-3 on Thursday, emphasized the need to reduce scoring chances.

“We had to do a better job of folding up guys in the D-zone and coming out together as five,” he said.

Calgary hosts the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday.

Flames lines at practice

Huberdeau-Lindholm-Toffoli

Dube-Kadri-Mangiapane

Coleman-Backlund-Lewis

Lucic-Rooney-Ritchie

Ruzicka

Weegar-Tanev

Hanifin-Andersson

Zadorov-Stone

Mackey

Markstrom

Vladar

Vladar re-signs

Calgary’s goaltending picture looks like it will stay the same for the next couple of seasons. Dan Vladar re-signed with the team this week, inking a two-year pact at $2.2 million a season, nearly tripling his current salary.

Vladar, who backstopped the Flames to a victory in Edmonton a week ago, is well-regarded by the organization for his attitude, work ethic, and professionalism.

The Flames’ goaltending department, led by director Jordan Sigalet, had kept an eye on Vladar after he was drafted by Boston in the third round in 2015. Sigalet got a positive scouting report from former Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask, and in the summer of 2021 the Flames sent a third-round pick to Boston for him.

In his first season in Calgary, Vladar went 13-6-2, with a 0.906 save percentage and 2.75 goals-against average. The 25-year-old native of the Czech Republic joked that it took him about six seconds to sign the new deal. The process was quick and straightforward. 

“When I look at my game last year and when I look at it now, I see a huge improvement,” he said. “I know I’m getting better here. I know I can trust Marky. I know I can trust Siggy. I know I can trust Barbs [goalie coach Jason LaBarbera]. We’ve got a little team inside a team.”

Markstrom was also happy that Vladar will be back.

“Last year, he did an unbelievable job every time he came in,” he said. “You see him on a daily basis, the work he puts in. I was super excited that he got a two-year deal done – for his sake but also for me to have a partner like that, and then for our team…we push each other. He wants to play. I want to play…obviously I’ve been in this league a long time now and I try to help him as much as I can to slow down the game and make the game easier.”

Vladar re-signing means the Flames can continue to be patient with top prospect Dustin Wolf, the 21-year-old who was named the American Hockey League’s most outstanding goalie last season as a rookie. He still does not need to clear waivers for another three seasons, so the Flames can continue his development in the AHL. 

Lewis a valuable teammate off the ice

Several Flames players have alluded to Trevor Lewis over the past year as someone who has quietly contributed to a changed locker room culture. He won Stanley Cups with Darryl Sutter in Los Angeles in 2012 and 2014. In the summer of 2021, Sutter called Lewis to gauge his interest on joining the Flames. 

“He’s just as important off the ice as he is on the ice for our group,” Sutter said. “He’s committed to being a really good pro. He’s been like that for quite a long time now…in some ways, he’s a better player now than 10 years ago. Number one, understand your role. Roles change. Those guys that have won championships, their roles change as they get older…Lewy’s one of those guys that has just stuck with the program and been able to maintain it.”

Lewis had to adapt his game shortly after getting drafted in the first round in 2006 by the Kings.

“I was playing in the minors and things weren’t going very well,” the 35-year-old said.

“I thought it was going to be like junior where I’d come up, play power play, get points. The development guys sent me down and said that if I wanted to make it to the next level, I had to be that guy the coach could trust, work on [penalty killing], work on faceoffs.”

Fifteen years after those conversations, Lewis is a Stanley Cup champion and trusted veteran whose focus on details has rubbed off on teammates

“Where are we going off this faceoff, how the other team forechecks, even in your structure or routine, just making sure your body is ready to go and you’re not out there pulling a muscle,” he said, of how he tries to help other Flames.