Game Day Notebook - 18.04.24

One last chance to make an impression.

That’s how the Flames are treating tonight’s season finale against the Sharks, as the 82-game regular season draws to a close at the Scotiabank Saddledome. (TICKETS)

Calgary will hand the keys to the crease to rookie Dustin Wolf, who will look to defeat his hometown club for the second time this month after scoring a 3-2 OT victory in San Jose AprIL 9.

It’s Wolf’s 15th start of the season - and an opportunity for the young netminder to post his fourth straight win - all part of a growing sense of self between NHL pipes, according to his head coach.

“I think he looks more comfortable, that’s probably the same for most younger players that are trying to find themselves, or find their way,” Ryan Huska said following Thursday’s morning skate. “When you’re in there more often, you feel like ‘hey, I have it going and I don’t have to wait until my next start, I know it’s coming fairly shortly.’

“I do feel like he’s been looking more comfortable in there, and he’s been playing some good hockey for us.”

But Huska also alluded to the fact that even though there’s not a lot at stake standings-wise this evening, tonight’s tilt represents one final opportunity for players to leave an imprint on coaches, management and fans alike.

“Oftentimes, when you don’t know a player and you see them the first time, it stays in your head,” Huska said. “And the same holds true the last chance they have to compete, or the last chance anybody has to do something, that sticks around in a person’s head. So when there’s conversations over the course of the summer, that’s what’s going to be floating around in your head about a certain player.

“If it doesn’t go the way a player wants, his teammates, himself, the staff that’s around him and the people that watch in the building, that’s what they’re left with. So you always want to make sure when someone’s going to see you for the final time in a long stretch, they want to be like ‘whoa, there’s some good things coming around the corner for that person.’

“That’s what we want all of our players to be like tonight.”

Tiger Time

Blake Coleman is expected to draw back into the Flames lineup tonight after missing the last four games.

It’s been a career year for the Texas Tiger, who sits one tuck away from his first career 30-goal season.

And tonight, he’ll get one more crack at it, though Huska admits Coleman lobbied hard to make his return sooner.

“He argued with (Head Sports Physiotherapist Kent Kobelka) for a long time to try to get in a lot sooner, that’s just the way he is,” Huska said. “He typically will play through everything, but Kent was making sure he was in the right place.

“He’s totally ready to go, and we’re excited that he’s going to have the opportunity tonight.”

For Coleman, it’s a bittersweet return, though.

Like everyone, the two-time Stanley Cup champ is dissatisfied that tonight’s game marks the end of the road for the 2023-24 campaign, but Coleman’s taking solace in the fact that he won’t be finishing the season on the sidelines.

“Nice to get one more game under the belt,” he said Thursday. “Obviously Game 82, it is what it is tonight, but I’m happy to be back in the lineup.”

The Numbers Game

A trio of Flames are on the cusp of single-season, goal-scoring milestones ahead of this evening’s battle with the Sharks.

Nazem Kadri is a goal away a third career 30-goal campaign, while as mentioned above, Blake Coleman is also sitting on 29 tallies, which already represents a personal best.

MacKenzie Weegar is a goal away from becoming the first defenceman to notch 20 goals and 200 blocked shots in a single season, since the NHL officially started keeping tabs on the latter stat in 2005-06.

Kadri was asked Thursday morning about what might happen should the trio find themselves on a three-man breakaway at some point this evening.

“For me, I’m probably looking for Weegsy,” he chuckled. “I mean obviously Colesy first time 30 would be special too.

“But if it goes off my shin pad, I’ll take it.”