A couple of their should-be sharpshooters scored, their top prospect quarterbacked the power-play and their go-to goalie seemed to be in his groove in his first appearance of the exhibition schedule.
Oh yeah, and the Calgary Flames cruised to a 4-1 victory in Tuesday’s tuneup against the Seattle Kraken.
All in all, a successful evening for the Saddledome hosts.
Yegor Sharangovich, Rory Kerins, Matt Coronato and Sam Morton did the lamp-lighting for the locals, while Dustin Wolf was fooled just once in two periods of action.
Here are three takeaways from Tuesday’s contest, the third of eight pre-season dates for the Flames …
The Kerins conundrum
Kerins was the youngest player to finish in the Top 10 on the AHL’s scoring charts last season.
He notched an assist on his first NHL shift, and wrapped a five-game call-up with four apples.
And against the Kraken, the 23-year-old led the offensive charge with a goal and a helper.
While he’s not necessarily the most noticeable guy on the ice, doesn’t have blazing speed or a bullet of a shot, Kerins just seems to find a way to pick up points.
Flames coach Ryan Huska also praised Tuesday that Kerins is “a step quicker” after another strong summer and “has been very responsible structure-wise” in his two auditions so far.
“He’s on the scoresheet all the time because he’s got great hockey sense and he’s around the puck,” Huska said of Kerins, who also had a beautiful assist in Sunday’s split-squad affair in Edmonton. “He understands where pressure is coming from, where open men are, and that’s why he finds himself on the scoreboard. His game has continued to get better. To me, it’s a real positive, the way he’s showed so far.”
Where this could create a conundrum for Calgary’s decision-makers is this up-and-coming forward — Kerins considers himself a natural centre, and that’s where he lined up Tuesday — now requires waivers to be assigned to the minors.
Most expect he will wind up with the Wranglers, but can a team that finished 29th in the NHL in goals-for last season risk losing a potential producer? With each pre-season point, does it boost the possibility he would be claimed?
Kerins, drafted as a sixth-round underdog in 2020, doesn’t have to worry about all that. A forgotten man last fall, when he wasn’t tapped for a single exhibition outing, he simply wants to complicate the conversation when the final cuts are due.
“I feel like, in a lot of ways, this is kind of like my first pre-season,” Kerins said. “This is very exciting for me and something I would have killed for the last three years. So I’m just having a lot of fun with it and preparing and going out and performing.
“I’m just going out there and playing. I play hockey for a living, man. This is what I always wanted to do and I’m just trying to take full advantage. Whatever opportunity I’m given, I’m going to try to make the most of it and do my best.”
The Flames celebrate a goal by Yegor Sharangovich against the Kraken on Tuesday.
That’s my quarterback
There was nobody shouting ‘Let ’em play, ref!’ during Tuesday’s tilt.
With an opportunity to see prized prospect Zayne Parekh as the quarterback on the top power-play, Flames fans were hoping for whistles.
The more penalty calls, the better.
With his sublime puck skills, many believe it’s only a matter of time before Parekh will be a fixture on PP1. As long as he cracks the NHL roster, he should immediately see shifts on the plus side of special teams.
In a sneak preview Tuesday, the 19-year-old blue-liner patrolled the point on a man-advantage unit that also featured Coronato, Morgan Frost, Jonathan Huberdeau and Sharangovich.
While Parekh was held without a point in 3:48 of power-play duty, there were exciting flashes. Late in the first period, for example, he wired a shot through traffic and Coronato nearly cashed the rebound.
“I thought he did a good job — and not just on the power-play,” said Huska, who paired Parekh with one of his leading minute-munchers. “We were fairly liberal with who he was on the ice against for the majority of the night, and I thought he and Kevin Bahl did a really good job together. Bahler is very steady and I think he’s feeling pretty good about his game right now. And I think it just allowed Zayne to play his game a little more than what we saw (Sunday) against Edmonton.”
It should be noted that it was Parekh’s man, Mitchell Stephens, who scored Seattle’s lone goal. The coaches will stress in video that the youngster was a tad too tentative on that sequence.
Flames goalie Dustin Wolf stops a Kraken shot on Tuesday.
About the regulars
By our count, Tuesday’s home lineup included eight dudes who are locks for opening-night gigs. A few thoughts on what we saw from the guys who don’t need to worry about their job security …
Dustin Wolf worked two periods in the home crease and showed plenty of sharpness, stopping 12-of-13 shots fired his direction before he was relieved by college free-agent signing Owen Say.
“I want to play that goal just a little differently, just stay on my feet,” Wolf said of a spinning shot from Stephens that slipped through his wickets. “But that’s the opportunity of pre-season is you get back in, you try to kick the rust off and find little bits and pieces of your game just to modify and keep moving forward.”
Sharangovich can’t officially start bouncing back until the regular season begins, but Tuesday’s tally was an encouraging sign for a guy who is aiming to put a disappointing campaign in his rearview. ‘Sharky’ deflected a shot from defence hopeful Hunter Brzustewicz, his first of two assists.
Frost provided the highlight-of-the-night with a gorgeous feed to Coronato on his third-period goal. The 26-year-old centre also won 60 percent of his faceoffs. After potting a pair in Edmonton, Frost is tied with Kerins for top perch on the Flames’ pre-season scoring charts.
Showing of his new dad strength after he welcomed a baby boy during the off-season, Huberdeau absolutely clobbered Seattle’s top prospect, Berkley Catton, along the side-boards.
On the not-so-encouraging side, Connor Zary was on the receiving end of several big hits, including a wicked wallop from Mason Marchment. Kerins did point out that Zary made “a really good play that you may not have noticed” to assist on his power-play snipe in the second period.
Flames defenceman Yan Kuznetsov battles Kraken forward Mitchell Stephens on Tuesday.