Brayden Pachal didn’t say anything.
He didn’t have to.
Calgary Flames rookie rearguard Zayne Parekh, under heaps of pressure as he tries to prove he is NHL-ready at the age of 19, had just returned to the visiting bench in Philadelphia after a rollercoaster of a shift on the power play.
Parekh had snapped his stick as he arrived at the gate and now his head was hanging low as he grabbed a seat, his helmet almost touching the top of the dasher.
That is, until Pachal reached over to his right, grabbed a fistful of jersey and hoisted his frustrated friend back up, a silent but significant show of support.
You don’t see a lot of Pachal highlights — such is life for a sixth/seventh defenceman — but he rightfully was praised during Sunday broadcast on Sportsnet for something that could have easily been missed.
As Parekh told Postmedia: “It means a lot for him to pick me up there.”
“Zayne knows he’s a really good player, everybody knows he’s a really good player and he’s probably his hardest critic at times,” Pachal said as the Flames returned from a four-game trip for a pair in their own barn. “We have a really good relationship. We’re good friends. So it wasn’t necessarily a pick-me-up. It was more so, ‘Hey, who cares? You know you’re a good player. Mistakes happen. You’re 19 years old. Get ready for the next one.’ Just that type of thing. I think he responded to that, too.
“When you look at the big picture, he’s 19 years old. I was playing in the Western League at 19, so I couldn’t imagine playing in the NHL. It’s a huge jump.”
Pachal wasn’t just skating in the WHL at 19. The rugged defenceman was captain of the Prince Albert Raiders at that age and his leadership chops certainly showed Sunday as he urged Parekh to shake off two ugly turnovers on a first-period power play in Philly.
In fact, the encouragement continued during the intermission.
“When you see a guy down on himself, especially early in a game like that, you just want to make sure you try to get him to reset and realize that mistakes happen,” Pachal explained. “I told him, ‘If I was betting man, I’d bet that he was going to get a sifter on the next power play.’ Didn’t end up happening, but you just want to try to get that confidence back up and just make sure that he knows he’s a special player.
“Mistakes happen, so just move on from it.”
While Pachal doesn’t want any special attention on what he shrugs off as simply being a supportive pal, others will tell you that it’s a prime example of why the 26-year-old is so well-liked and widely respected in the Flames locker room.
“He’s a great teammate is the best way I can put it about him,” head coach Ryan Huska said. “He understands situations and what people are feeling and what to do at certain times. It’s one of the reasons he’s a valuable player for us.”
Remember, Pachal and Parekh are both right-shot blue-liners.
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So as the talented teen gains confidence at the big-league level, as he starts to minimize those mistakes and maximize the dazzling skill-set that makes him Calgary’s most exciting prospect in a long while, it will mean that Pachal’s ice-time probably will dwindle.
He already has been scratched seven times this fall, although Parekh and Jake Bean were the extras Wednesday as the Flames welcomed the Columbus Blue Jackets.
“He keeps it light for me, it’s nice,” Parekh said of Pachal, who was paired Wednesday with recent call-up Yan Kuznetsov. “It’s been a frustrating stretch for me, but he just tells me to keep my head up and it’s not the end, who cares, you’re going to go out the next shift and make a play that’s going to change the game.
“For him to say that to me means a lot. He’s a guy I’m getting to know around the rink and I have a lot of fun with when I see him. We’re always joking around, so it means a lot for him to pick me up there.”