CALGARY – Seven games into an NHL career few people saw coming, there stood Martin Pospisil, shouldering the load for the Calgary Flames‘ shootout loss.
(Yes, another one).
He wasn’t one of the four shooters selected as part of the team’s latest futile attempt to win a skills competition, but he had the game on his stick minutes beforehand.
Streaking in alone in his first big league overtime appearance, the 23-year-old Slovak revelation put a sweet deke on Ilya Sorokin that was aimed at opening up the five-hole, to no avail.
Earlier in the night he’d opened the scoring with a patient move around the Islander netminder he eventually roofed for this third of his short NHL stint.
Alas, when time gets extended on Flames games, nothing ever seems to work.
For those keeping track at home, a 5-4 shootout loss to the struggling Islanders Saturday puts the Flames 0-for-3 in shootouts this year.
Last year they were 7-17 in extended games (2-5 in shootouts, 5-12 in games ended in OT), costing the team a playoff spot.
It’s a problem that speaks to the lack of finishers on this roster — a fact hammered home by the fact Blake Coleman’s goal Saturday leads the team with five.
When asked what could be done to change their shootout/OT fortunes, Coleman said, “Win them in regulation.”
Well, there was Pospisil, on the cusp of doing just that, as many in a raucous, Saddledome crowd sprang to their feet with hopes a team that overcame a 3-1 deficit and then had to tie it in the final six minutes would be rewarded.
“I feel bad that I didn’t score,” said the unlikely Wranglers callup of the missed opportunity he put a heck of an effort into.
“It hurts. It could be over.”
“I had great trust from the coach I could score on the breakaway, but the goalie stopped the puck.
“Hopefully next time.”
In a four-round shoutout in which Jonathan Huberdeau, Rasmus Andersson and Connor Zary couldn’t score like Yegor Sharangovich did, a strong argument could have been made to toss the red-hot Pospisil into the mix.
That said, full marks for coach Ryan Huska putting enough stock in the kid who has points in five of his seven outings to be part of the second trio sent over the boards in extra time.
Give the people what they want, especially when they earn it.
“It means a lot,” said Pospisil of the overtime faith coach Ryan Huska put in him.
“You know, I didn’t play many games in NHL and it feels great when you get that trust from the coach, and I really appreciate it.”
The soft-spoken lad who persevered through five concussions over four injury-riddled AHL campaigns, now leads the team at plus-7 and is one of the driving forces in a turnaround that has seen the Flames go 4-1-2 since his arrival.
Before that, they’d lost six in a row.
On Saturday he led all skaters with six shots on goal, was plus-2, tied two other forwards with three hits, and is simply the most exciting thing about the Calgary Flames at this very moment, as he and linemate Zary represent the future of a team sure to be re-designed by season’s end.
“He was one of the drivers for us in the game offensively – that line was creating, so give him a chance I guess is the way I look at it,” said Huska of his overtime hunch.
“He’s feeling really good about his game right now, and it would have been great if he finished.
“But he deserved to be out there.”
Sure did.
“He’s got a motor, he’s got sneaky good hands and poise with the puck,” said Coleman, whose club also got goals from MacKenzie Weegar and Sharangovich.
“He plays hard, he runs guys over, he doesn’t shy away from it.
“I love his game.
“He’s something we were missing from our lineup, and he’s added a lot to our lineup.
“He’s another guy teams need to be aware of on the ice.
“It’s early, and the real challenge of this league is doing it for a full season, but I don’t see any reason why he wouldn’t continue this good play.”
He’ll need him to, as goals don’t come easy to this group.
Coleman explained after the game that with the lack of a game-breaking line, they’ll need to score goals by committee.
And they’ll need to find a way to beat goalies one-on-one.
“We put shootouts in a lot of our practices this year and we’ll continue to do that,” said Huska, before pointing out that only Sharangovich seems to have the type of penalty shot finish they feel confident in.
“We don’t have a ton of guys that have his skill set.
“We have working skill if you want to call it, so you have to find a way to capitalize before you get into the shootout, I guess is what it would come down to.”
