'GOT TO PLAY BETTER'

The truth is, you never get used to it.
That first glimpse of the white stuff hits you like a stiff slap to the cheek.
But 10cm?!
Even that is enough to put the most hardened Calgarian in a foul mood to start the day.
"That was a wake-up call this morning," laughed Jonathan Huberdeau, who smartly swapped his iconic blue Lambo for a more sensible 4x4 after the trade from south Florida. "I forgot about it. I knew it was going to snow and then this morning, I got up and I was a little late and I saw the snow on my car, so I was like, 'I better get going!'
"It's been a while. Eh, it's fine. Yesterday was like nothing, and today... It could have been a LITTLE less."
Indeed.
But if nothing else, it certainly feels like hockey season now.

Tonight, Huberdeau and the Flames are looking to bounce back after suffering a 6-3 loss to the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday. With the reigning Metro Division-champion Carolina Hurricanes in town, the matchup promises to be a tough one - like navigating the Deerfoot after a fresh dump during rush hour.
"We weren't ready (from) the get-go," Huberdeau said of Thursday's defeat. "That's what we want to do, especially at home. We've got our fans and we've got to be ready and have a better start and that's what we're going to have tonight."

The Flames had a good, hard practice on Friday in preparation for this game. They spent the majority of the 45-minute session focusing on their defensive play - especially in transition, and away from the puck.
Part of the issue in the Buffalo loss was how the Flames turned the puck over in dangerous areas of the ice, allowing the Sabres to attack in transition - often, with numbers.
At this level, it's not what you take.
It's what you leave.
And the Flames left plenty for the Sabres to chew on, allowing more Grade-A opportunities than we're accustomed to seeing under Darryl Sutter.
The good news? It's all fixable. And with Sutter at the helm, the Flames had a good work day as they look to correct course and get back in the win column.
"We have really good two-way players," Sutter said when asked by FlamesTV's Brendan Parker about the team's ability to 'self-assess' and recognize their own areas of improvement. "So, they don't evaluate the offence part. I think they evaluate their all-around game."

Exhibit A: Former 'Cane Elias Lindholm, who was critical of his own play when addressing the media earlier this morning.
"I need to pick up my game and play better," he said. "Obviously, my game is not where it needs to be and I've got to play better. That's it."
Certainly, there's an adjustment when playing with two new linemates - especially when coming of a career year where the 27-year-old scored 42 times.
Four games into the new season and Lindholm has two goals, with eight shots on net.
"Those guys, Jonny (Huberdeau), Lindy, they've got to shoot pucks more and be in the o-zone a little more," Sutter explained. "If you look at, historically. over their careers, they're what, 2(00), to 240 shots (per season)? That averages out to just under three a game.
"So, if they're not getting that, then you're not getting opportunities.
"I just think that we've got, with our team, you've got lots of guys playing with new guys. It (chemistry) doesn't just happen in preseason, because you're not playing full rosters, right? You look at the other night, our pairs, we didn't have one pair that played together last year. You look at our lines how it's broken up. So, it's not as easy as you think."

The Hurricanes, meanwhile, are also coming off their first loss a campaign - a 6-4 defeat at the hands of the Oilers on Thursday, giving them an identical, 3-1 record.
Sometimes a good opponent can bring out the best in you.
"They have skill, good defencemen and really good goalies. They have it all," Lindholm said. "It will be a tough test for us. Obviously, they work hard and shoot a lot of pucks and are a pretty heavy team, too. They have all kinds of weapons.
"Last game we weren't ready at all. We want to be a hard team to play against and obviously set the tone in the first period and we didn't do any of those in the first last game. That pretty much set up the whole game for us.
"We didn't work enough in the game, so we had a good practice yesterday and worked hard and got ready for a good match tonight."