CALGARY — The plan all season long in Calgary was definitely not to allow Sam Bennett to play his 10th NHL game and burn a season of his entry-level contract.
Here was a kid who had undergone shoulder surgery, spent the year rehabbing, joined his junior team late in the year… It wasn’t even supposed to be a factor.
But then Bennett got healthy, and his junior team only lasted four playoff games, allowing him a quicker than expected transition to Calgary. Then he quickly proved that he was among the Flames Top 9 forwards, and the team in turn kept playing into the second round of the playoffs.
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Tonight Bennett will play that tenth game, because the Flames really have no choice. To take him out of the lineup would be to short-staff the team in its most important game of the season. It’s a nice problem to have: good team, good player. But the result is, a contract year sacrificed.
“From an ownership standpoint, they always tell me, ‘Go, go. Never mind contracts or whatever situations. You coach to win,’” head coach Bob Hartley said. “That’s the only thing that I want to hear.”
Wet blankets
The role of the Ducks here tonight is to be the party poopers. Take the crowd out of the game; do not allow emotions to rule the day. Boring is better because that means the best team is likely going to win, and of course Anaheim thinks they are the best team.
“There are going to be times where things get going and the fans get into it, the crowd gets into it and they get rolling,” said winger Andrew Cogliano. “When that happens, that’s when you take an icing or do things that slow the game down. Our objective as a road team is to come out just like New York did last night in Washington.”
Cogliano is well aware of the Flames story this season. He’s seen Cinderella before, but hopes not to again until his next trip to Disneyland.
“This is a team that really never dies. You have to keep pushing and keep doing what we’re doing,” he said. “I feel like we’re focused and we’re playing some good hockey. I thought the first period especially the last game we played really well, the second and third, I think we can improve upon….”
Stick a fork in ‘em
Of the three clubs who have fallen behind 2-0 in their second round series, this Calgary club is being dismissed across the hockey world more than Montreal and Minnesota.
“If you listen to the outside, everybody has written us off,” said Flames centre Matt Stajan. “But in this dressing, room … we’re ready to go. We’ve been up against the odds all year. We’re on home ice, where we’re comfortable. It starts tonight.”
Of course, last change is being touted as the biggest difference-maker for Calgary, although Stajan admits, “We’re not going to grow just ‘cause we’re on home ice. They’re still going to have the size advantage. We’ll have better control over it, for sure.”
Shuffling the Duck
As for lineup changes, Anaheim’s only lineup change could come if John Gibson backs up Frederik Andersen in the Ducks goal. He would displace Jason LaBarbera, a small change for a team that isn’t about to mess with a winning hand among its 18 skaters.
For Calgary, Raphael Diaz steps in on the third defensive pairing. He’ll pair up with David Schlemko, and likely get more ice time than five to six minutes that Tyler Wotherspoon has averaged in the Calgary playoff games that haven’t devolved into blowouts. (He played 14 minutes in Game 1).
“That’s going to definitely help. We have some experience on the blue line. It’s going to give us more options,” said Hartley, who can use Diaz on his power play for sure. “But in terms of minutes, if I would be working with bombs, maybe minutes and seconds would be important. But in a game, I don’t care about minutes.”
Michael Ferland is a game time decision for Calgary (we suspect he is unlikely to play). The referees will be two of Kelly Sutherland, Chris Rooney and Francois St. Laurent (with one as the stand-by), while the linesman are Jay Sharrers and Brian Murphy.