LOS ANGELES — As the Toronto Maple Leafs’ public address announcer for 17 years, Andy Frost introduced well over 700 starting lineups.
It would be hard to believe any of those could possibly have meant as much as the one he announced Saturday night at Crypto.com Arena.
This one included personally introducing his son, Morgan, and was punctuated by a dressing-room embrace that could have melted all the snow in Calgary.
After Andy used his iconic voice to kick off the dads' trip with the stirring intros, Morgan took it upon himself to bookend the family affair with the overtime winner over the Kings.
And his first thought in a jubilant Flames dressing room afterwards was his hero.
“Really exciting to have him here,” said Morgan of his dad.
“Can’t wait to give him a hug right now.”
There were hugs all around following one of the Flames' most complete efforts of the season, as the fathers flooded the room to share their excitement following a 2-1 win the team fully deserved.
Outshooting the Kings 38-21 and dominating in every statistical category, the Flames upped their recent record to 8-3-1 as one of the hottest teams in the league.
The Flames' celebration was almost spoiled 33 seconds into the extra frame when an Adrian Kempe centring pass bounced in off the trailing foot of Anze Kopitar.
However, a video review negated the goal due to an obvious kicking motion that set the table for Frost’s heroics.
The game winner one minute into OT started in the Flames’ zone when Frost finished his check on Brandt Clarke and stole the puck to create a three-on-one.
Dishing the puck to Jonathan Huberdeau, he then drove to the net where he redirected a perfect Huberdeau return pass past Team Canada hopeful Darcy Kuemper to silence the crowd.
Well, most of the crowd, as the Flames’ jersey-clad dads in a private box at the far end of the rink sprang to their feet in jubilation, exchanging high fives, earning stick salutes from all their sons as they left the ice.
“You don’t see that play from me too often probably,” smiled Frost of the rare physicality he exhibited.
“I just saw an opportunity and I felt like he was kind of stuck on the wall. Just kind of took off. I think the plan is always to get the puck to Huberdeau and get open. That’s what I was thinking.”
Despite trailing 1-0 after a first period in which Dustin Wolf made a huge glove save on Kevin Fiala, the Flames felt great about their game.
Six minutes into the second period, Blake Coleman went on the world’s longest breakaway, which he finished off for his third short-handed goal of the season.
“Happy that one went in and it was a goal we needed,” said Blake Coleman, who has scored three goals in front of the dads since his father, Rusty, dubbed him The Texas Tiger during player intros on the last trip with the fathers.
“I think (the nickname) is going to live on. I mean I have a tiger head at the Dome when I score, so I feel like it’s pretty much part of my DNA now.
“To my knowledge, with the dads we’re 4-0, so hopefully keep it running.
“For a road game, that was about as complete, and as well, as you could play. It was up and down the lineup, to a man everybody showed up tonight. I guess the dads brought the juice we needed.”
They’ll try to do it again Tuesday when the Flames conclude the two-game California trip in San Jose. But not before the fathers and sons take in a San Francisco 49ers game Sunday.
“I think Mr. Frost did an excellent job with our lineup read tonight and he set the tone for the way the game went,” said coach Ryan Huska, who got 20 timely saves from Wolf.
“It’s pretty cool.
“I thought we had a lot of energy tonight and played the game the right way.
“The room had good energy. The boys always seem to play well when their dads are in town. When you get a collective group of them on the dads trip you kind of know how they’re going to come out.”
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