Dustin Wolf has manned the crease for every minute of the Calgary Flames season so far.
He’ll get the start on Tuesday evening at the Saddledome against the Vegas Golden Knights, too. Head coach Ryan Huska confirmed that on Monday morning.
At some point, though — and probably on Wednesday against the Utah Mammoth in Salt Lake City — the Flames are going to need Devin Cooley to step in and give Wolf a break.
“I feel like he’s been doing the things he has to do in practice,” Huska said. “He’s out earlier with (Flames goaltending coach Jason Labarbera), he’s working later and staying out there and taking all the shots he needs to take. The challenge when he hasn’t played a game yet is he has to treat practice like it’s an actual game.
“That means your reads are right on, you’re stopping as many pucks as you can possibly stop because, really, those are his games right now until he gets into one.”
Cooley likely is to get a game sooner rather than later.
The Flames can’t risk over-working Wolf this early in the year. They played him in both games of a back-to-back last week in Edmonton and Vancouver, and he didn’t look like his normal self against the Canucks. That’s not surprising, most goalies will suffer a dip in form when they’re playing twice in 24 hours with a flight in between.
That means the Flames are going to need Cooley to be ready and it’s something he’s putting a lot of work into.
“When the time comes for me to play, it’s going to be on me whether I’m ready or not,” the 28-year-old said. “You can’t just go ‘Oh, I haven’t practised in a couple days’ or ‘We had late-night travel.’ That’s my role, to go in and give the team a chance to win on night where maybe it’s a little harder for the guys to get going.”
Cooley won the Flames backup job in training camp, edging out Russian shot-stopper Ivan Prosvetov. But neither guy had the most confidence-inspiring pre-season and Cooley struggled while putting up a 4.08 goals-against-average and a .846 save percentage.
Those numbers obviously aren’t great, but there’s nothing Cooley can do about them now. All he can do is be ready to do better when he’s called-on.
That’s a process that plays out every single day.
“It’s about getting work in whenever I possibly can,” Cooley explained. “Getting out there early, staying out there late. Friday was a day off for everybody, but me and Barbs went out on the ice and just worked on goalie stuff. Try to get ice, try to see shots.
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“During the game, it’s not just sitting there and relaxing and having a cup of coffee. I’m constantly scanning the ice and watching what the other team is doing and trying to predict what options they have or what’s going to happen next. I’m following the game with my eyes and trying to be in the game mentally as much as I possibly can.
“In between each period, I’m doing little exercises, little workouts, trying to get my eyes doing, doing some juggling. I’m just trying to pretend I’m the one playing the game and just really keeping the same pre-game routine, that same mental focus, that same energy level.”
GETTING CLOSER
Huska provided an encouraging update on Jonathan Huberdeau after Monday’s practice.
Huberdeau has been out-of-action since colliding with Canucks goaltender Kevin Lankinen in a pre-season game on Oct. 1, but was skating on his own prior to practice on Monday.
Huska said he was hopeful that his crafty winger could re-join the Flames on their upcoming road-trip, which starts Wednesday in Salt Lake City and then heads to Vegas for a Saturday matchup.