It had been 46 days since Connor Zary had found the back of the net for the Calgary Flames.
Finally, he was rewarded on Sunday night.
The 24-year-old winger hadn’t scored since the opening night of the season and was understandably frustrated. Who wouldn’t be? That sort of slump would grind anyone’s gears, and it was especially tough for a guy like Zary who expects himself to contribute on a nightly basis.
It was understandable, then, if there was a sense of relief when Zary buried the puck in the back of the Vancouver Canucks (9-12-2) net early in the first period of the Flames’ (8-13-3) 5-2 win.
“It felt really good,” Zary told reporters after the game. “I’ve been feeling good about my game recently, but obviously when you come out of the game and look at the stat sheet and it’s kind of blank, it’s tough as a player.
“I know who I am and how good of a player I can be … so I think it’s just finding that confidence back and being confident in myself to make those plays and find the back of the net.”
Getting Zary back on the scoresheet wasn’t the only bit of good news for the Flames on the West Coast. Sunday’s win gave them three victories in a row for the first time this season. For all the talk about their disastrous start to the season, they’re now only one point back of the Canucks in the standings. Their special teams units are starting to click and pucks are actually starting to find the back of the net.
On Sunday, it was finally Zary’s turn.
“It’s nice for Connor, he’s a guy that wants to generate, wants to help the team,” Flames head coach Ryan Huska told reporters. “When you see him get one I think he’s going to be a little like Matt (Coronato) has been for us where it’s starting to go for him a little more regularly now.
“I thought he did a lot of good things tonight away from the puck, as well. I’m happy he was able to get rewarded.”
Here’s three takeaways from Sunday’s game:
1. ON A ROLL
It’s no secret that Rasmus Andersson is playing some of his best hockey right now.
He’s been on a tear over the past couple of weeks and was the Flames’ best player yet again against the Canucks.
The Swede chipped in with three assists and has now recorded 10 points in the Flames’ last five games. With 16 points on the season, only 11 defencemen around the NHL have more.
“I think he’s been consistent all year for us, now I’d say he’s on a heater,” Huska told reporters. “The guys always talk about that, the younger guys, but he’s doing a lot of good things for us in a lot of different situations, whether it’s the penalty-kill or the power-play, which is starting to generate now.”
Andersson is in the last year of his contract and it’s almost certain he’ll be traded by the end of the season. The better he plays, the more likely it is that the Flames will get a significant return when they deal him away.
2. SLUMP-BUSTER
Zary wasn’t the only player needing a goal to bust out of a slump.
Yegor Sharangovich hadn’t scored in nine games and has been a healthy scratch multiple times this season, so it shouldn’t go unremarked on that he potted his third of the year in the second period.
Sharangovich batted a rebound out of the air to put the Flames up 4-1 after Morgan Frost and Kevin Bahl had also scored.
There’s still a long way to go before anyone proves he’s consistently going to impact games, but getting on the scoresheet is a good start.
3. NOTHING EASY ABOUT IT
The Flames could have dropped Sunday’s game and nobody would have blinked an eye.
They got into Vancouver late – or early, depending how you look at it – after beating the Dallas Stars in a shootout on Saturday night and had every excuse if they’d looked lethargic.
Then, Dustin Wolf allowed a goal on the first shot of the game from Filip Hronek.
It’s to their credit that they battled back and largely dominated a Canucks team that had no excuse for looking as disengaged as they did.
“I think we did a pretty good job as the game went on,” Huska said. “Sometimes you worry with a back-to-back and the travel we did have.”
The schedule doesn’t get any easier for the Flames. They’ll fly to Tampa on Monday and will play four games out east before returning to Calgary next Tuesday.