EMBRACING THE CHALLENGE

It's ear-splitting. It's rowdy. It's as claustrophobic-feeling as a building that shoehorns in 20,000 single-minded souls could possibly be.
In other words, it's right up Mike Smith's alley.

"One of the most fun places to play in the league," agrees the combative goaltender, when asked about venturing into the den-of-din formally known as the United Centre. "The fans are intense. Loud. Into it right away.
"And the national anthem … it sends chills up and down your spine, every time. How could not you get up for a game after that?"
Smith and his Calgary Flames embark on a six-game, 11-day road junket opening Tuesday in Sinatra's kind of town, Chicago.
From the moment Jim Cornelison limbers up his beefy baritone pipes to launch into 'Oh, say can you see …' the ambience is unlike any other.
Intimidating?
Intoxicating, more like.
Mention the unique challenges of invading the second-generation Madhouse on Madison and Smith lights up like Rush Street on the Fourth of July.
Trace back to the spring of 2012, Smith's first season in Phoenix, land of arid temperatures, cacti and block-long strip malls. To the first round of playoffs and the Coyotes six-game upset ouster of the Blackhawks.
"(Andrew) Shaw hit me behind the net, really good, at home in Arizona," Smith is recalling, post-practice, before the Flames departed via charter for O'Hare Airport. "The next game we're in Chicago, and I see someone holding a No Diving! sign, like you'd see at a pool.
"There was a cross through it and 'Smith: 41'.
"The rest of that series, every time I touched the puck I got booed.
"I loved it.
"Kinda gets you going as a player. So embrace it. Enjoy it.
"It's part of being a pro, learning how to play on the road. You can't be satisfied with just playing well at home and okay on the road. That won't cut it.
"If you're in another team's building and the fans are all over you, it means you're an important person on the ice, right?"
A small smile.
"And who doesn't want to feel important?
"If you're not getting noticed, you're doing something wrong."
As much oxygen as the noise pumps into the hometown Hawks, such an unparalleled atmosphere also benefits the unwelcome visitors in terms of energy and initiative.
"I think it's the best road arena we play in," reckons Flames' boss Glen Gulutzan. "There's that electricity. You get up to play in there. They're a great team. Great history. And that anthem's second to none.
"It's the only building over my years in the NHL where the scratches inch out close to the bench so they can listen to the Star Spangled Banner."
The Flames, 13-5-5, are one of the league's top road teams. Those five losses are tied for fewest among the 31 entries. On their first six-game test, beginning in mid-November, they finished 3-2-1. From Jan. 9-14, Gulutzan's crew swept a four-fixture junket.
Impressive stuff.
"Hopefully," says ex-Hawk Michael Frolik, "we can keep that going. Every trip's different, though. Here at home, maybe we try to do too much, the pressure is a little bit bigger.
"On the road, we just play more simple, more direct.
"We're playing some good teams in some tough buildings. So you can't look ahead. We take it game by game. There's no 'If we can finish with this record …' thinking.
As I said, game by game. But obviously if you can come home over .500 it's a pretty good trip."
Following their Chicago booking, the odyssey wends its way through Jersey, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Boston and, finally, Nashville a week from Thursday.
It's no hush-hush, CIA-level secret that a major part of Calgary's successes in foreign climes can be put down to Smith. Solid everywhere all season long, he's been nothing short of luminous on the road, sporting a 9-3-3 record 1.83 GAA and .948 save percentage.
With only one back-to-back set on this trip, he likely to get the start in five of the six games
Starting Tuesday in the Madhouse.
Bring it on. Such a hostile environment feeds right into Mike Smith's competitive mojo.
"A long trip like this, you want to come out of the gates fast," he emphasizes. "That sets a tone. You saw what happened on our last big trip. Win that first one, you can carry momentum along and ride it.
"So the importance of getting off to a good start is key.
"We're in a (playoff) dogfight here. It's another must-win for us.
"And, I mean, you can't help but get up for a game in Chicago."