It was the type of assignment Dustin Wolf wasn’t generally given in the first half of the season.
Sheltered from many of the toughest starts by Dan Vladar, the Flames wanted to take a slow and steady approach as the 23-year-old Wolf acclimated to the NHL.
Well, the guard rails are off, and it’s his team now.
Thrust into a Saturday night road tilt in a hostile barn hosted by the west’s best Jets, Wolf stole the show and two points.
Facing a Winnipeg squad that leads the league in goals, home wins and had just two regulation losses in its last 12 outings, Wolf made a season-high 38 saves in a 3-1 win few saw coming.
Making his sixth start in the team’s last seven games, Wolf has done what he set out to do at the beginning of the season: prove he’s ready to take over as this franchise’s biggest building block.
Having passed every test thrown his way throughout his ascension from seventh-round pick to a Calder Trophy frontrunner, it’s clear he’s ready to be the one to spearhead the Flames’ improbable playoff chase.
He proved it Saturday in the stiffest test he’s faced to date.
Because of him, the Flames hold the final wild-card spot in the west.
At 16-7-2, he provides the best chance of staying there.
No more platooning – he’ll now be the one they tap for the biggest games moving forward.
Rebounding from a start in St. Louis on Thursday where he let in one of the few questionable goals he’s allowed this season, Wolf was spectacular in a first period that saw the Jets swarming. He made a key save on Mark Scheifele late in the second period of a 1-0 game and slammed the door on Kyle Connor and Alex Iafallo down the stretch of a 2-1 game the Flames sealed with an empty-netter.
“This one feels good,” Wolf told Flames TV after the game.
“I got an opportunity to go right back in there and beat the team that’s scoring a lot of goals and have been putting a lot of points up in the standings so far. The whole team is probably going to have a happy flight home.”
Credit to the Flames, whose work ethic was spectacular, but this game was simply stolen by the 23-year-old Wolf.
More takeaways from a stunning win that helped the Flames salvage an otherwise disappointing road trip:
Kuzmenko shoots … and scores
Climbing down from the press box for the first time in four games, Andrei Kuzmenko ended a 28-game scoring drought with a stellar power-play finish that put the Flames up 2-0 late in the second period.
It was just his second goal of the season.
It served as a reminder of just how frustrating it is that the former 39-goal scorer hasn’t been able to use his sublime skill to help a low-scoring team that so desperately needs his scoring touch.
After Rory Kerins deftly gained the zone and dished off to Blake Coleman, the Russian winger took a crossing pass and promptly buried it past Eric Comrie with a low, short-side snapper that bounced in off the post.
A rocket.
A relief.
“Now I can smile,” he said.
“This season is terrible for me, two goals is not my level. It’s not easy, right. Keep smile, keep working, you play with good team, great people, good humans. I like this moment. One positive moment.”
It was Kerins’ fourth assist in four games since his call-up, and it was Coleman’s second of three points, as he assisted on Matt Coronato’s opener before scoring the empty-netter.
It remains to be seen what it might be able to do for Kuzmenko, who was mobbed by teammates well aware of his frustrating journey this season.
Milestone night
It was Rasmus Andersson’s 500th NHL game, and Ryan Lomberg’s 300th.
They played in the minors together, under the watchful eye of Ryan Huska, whom they both gave credit to for helping them along the way.
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Andersson said he and the coach didn’t always see eye to eye, but the fact that they celebrated his milestone night together is a testament to how mutually beneficial the relationship has been.
The Lines
There were three changes to the lineup after consecutive losses in St. Louis, as Joel Hanley gave way to Daniil Miromanov, while Kuzmenko bumped Walker Duehr from the lineup and pushed Jakob Pelletier to the fourth line.
However, by night’s end Pospisil was demoted to the fourth line and Pelletier elevated to the top unit in his stead:
How they started:
Huberdeau-Kadri-Pospisil
Coleman-Backlund-Coronato
Kerins-Sharangovich-Kuzmenko
Lomberg-Rooney-Pelletier
Bahl-Andersson
Weegar- Miromanov
Bean-Pachal
Wolf
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