PLAYING WITH CONFIDENCE

MONTREAL - When Radim Zohorna was claimed off waivers by the Flames earlier this year, his world was spinning.
He was moving to a new city, a new country, and faced with getting acclimatized to a new team with different systems and teammates.
"I just wasn't ready for it," he said after today's morning skate at the Bell Centre. "Just, so many things were happening. I didn't have the confidence."
Knowing their newest forward likely needed some time to settle in with the organization, the Flames assigned him to the Wranglers, giving him a chance to get his feet under him.
He quickly integrated himself, picking up an assist in his first game with the Wranglers, and went on to post 16 points through 20 games before getting the call that the Flames were bringing him on the three-game road swing through Columbus, Toronto, and Montreal.

Head coach Darryl Sutter threw him right into the fire, playing in Columbus on the same day he was recalled, and he hasn't looked out of place in the least.
"There were a lot of things to do in two games and three days," he said of the past few days. "Now I know, I just wasn't ready for it."
Against the Blue Jackets, he had 6:35 of ice time, centering Milan Lucic and Trevor Lewis. In Toronto, he chipped in with 11:57 of ice time and was flanked by Lewis and Blake Coleman.
Tonight, he likely will be working alongside Lewis and Coleman once again and thanks to his time with the Wranglers and working with his teammates and coaches these past three days, he's feeling very prepared for the task at hand.
"We play the same system here and it helps a lot to build my confidence and helps me get back to where I want to be.
"I still can work on my confidence, you know? It's not how it was last year when I was in Pittsburgh, so I hope every game will be better than the last game so I can improve on it."
Sutter liked the progression he saw between Zohorna's first and second games and is hoping the 26-year-old can continue to make strides this evening.
"I thought he was strong on the puck, protecting the puck, and moved his feet. Those are three things when we watched it on film prior to getting him on waivers in Pittsburgh, those were three things he was good at. And then, preseason, when he played those exhibition games, he wasn't good at it. So, these two games he was good at it."

Also set to be back in the lineup tonight is Matthew Phillips, who was recalled last week and made his season debut on Saturday in Toronto.
"I had a lot of people watching me, a lot of my family was pretty excited," he said of kicking off his time with the Flames on Hockey Night In Canada against the Maple Leafs.
Skating with Adam Ruzicka and Mikael Backlund in Toronto, he had one shot in 9:21 of ice time and also played on the second powerplay unit.
"I settled in as the game went on and just got a little more comfortable with the pace and everything. That's what I'm trying to build off of and bring into the next game."
Now that he has his first game out of the way, he's ready for another pressure-cooker of a road rink in Montreal.

"An awesome building and I've heard a lot of good things about the atmosphere here so I'm looking forward to it."