20220226_mangiapane

Break out the eyeblack and elbow grease.
With one, three, and two goals for in the past three games, the Flames are looking to bear down and re-kindle their red-hot offence.
"If there's any frustration," Head Coach Darryl Sutter said, "it would be understanding that the closer you get. (to the playoffs), it tightens up a little bit.
"You get pushed around a little bit.
"There's more traffic out there.
"You've got to get gritty and that pretty stuff."

Indeed, that's how a lot of goals are created come springtime. The playoffs are known for their tight-checking, low-scoring games, and winning those battles down low and in front of the net can make all the difference.
Fortunately, the Flames have just the men for the job.
"If you want to score goals, you have to be in front of the net and be gritty, be hard to play against," said the team's leading striker, Andrew Mangiapane, who potted the team's lone tally on Thursday in Vancouver. "The goes for even the forechecking - being hard on the forecheck, getting pucks back, being hard on the D. Just being simple, throw it up to the D, have the D shoot it, have forwards at the net for a rebound and get some greasy goals.
"That's what you need to do to score goals."

"You want to be gritty, be hard to play against"

The Flames enter the night on a 10-game home winning streak, but had their quest for a franchise-high 11-game run, overall, come to an end with a 7-1 loss to the Canucks only 48 hours ago.
The Flames, admittedly, felt their game taper over the past three outings - beating the Seattle Kraken and Winnipeg Jets in a pair of low-scoring affairs - before falling to their west-coast foes in a penalty-filled contest.
Blake Coleman referred to it as an "embarrassing" loss when he spoke to the media postgame. Typically, those are the easiest to bounce back from.
After all, it's the ability to put a tough game behind you and re-centre yourself for the next one that truly defines a good team.
"New game, new day," Rasmus Andersson said after Saturday's morning skate. "We've got to bounce back today, and obviously, it's a tough challenge.
"They (the Minnesota Wild) are obviously a top team. We know they have a lot of young, skilled players in there. We have to play them physical and take care of our own end and take it from there.
"If play them physical and get the puck in our forwards 'hands, we can create a lot of offence."
The 31-15-3 Wild currently sit third in the Central Division - one point back of Calgary's Pacific-leading pace, but with one game in hand.
But they also come into the night on a two-game slide.
It's a great test for the Flames, who haven't seen Minnesota since January of 2020, and have only seen the highlights of superstar sophomore, Kirill "The Thrill" Kaprizov.
It's an easy one to get up for.
And the Flames can't wait to show it.
"Obviously, you're going to have games where you're not playing your best," Mangiapane said of Thursday's anomaly. "If, personally, you haven't played your best, you have to take some good, positive things from it and learn from the rest and move on and get ready for the next game. No one's going feel sorry for you. It's on you and the team to forgot about that game and move forward and be better for the next game."