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CALGARY — Shortly after making his triumphant return to action, Dan Vladar had an admission to make.
“I didn’t play for six-and-a-half months, so I was probably more nervous than before my first NHL game,” said the Flames’ 27-year-old netminder, who cut his season short last March to have hip surgery.
“After a long break you just don’t know how your body is going to feel. I was super positive about my hip, just nervous because of the long time without action.
“But I think my body felt good, and as the game went on I felt better and better.”
Pausing ever so slightly with a grin he added, “It’s always nice to beat those guys.”
Vladar stopped 18 of the 19 shots he faced over two periods to lift Calgary to a 6-1 split-squad win over the Oilers at the Dome.
Three hours up the road, Devin Cooley was the game’s first star with 44 saves in a 6-3 Flames win over a veteran Oilers squad to keep pace in a crease competition that has seen all three goalies open the pre-season with wins.
And while the team’s league-leading 3-0 record and 18-5 goal differential are sure to spark endless jokes about the Flames rebuild being over, Vladar is simply relieved to know his hip is pain-free for the first time in two years and will continue to improve.
“That was why we did it and why I got shut down early,” said Vladar, of the opportunity to return in time for a pre-season goalie competition.
“The only thing I can say is thank (head therapist) Kent (Kobelka) and our athletic trainers that they made the decision,” he said.
“I feel way better.”
ZARY VERY GOOD: Coach Ryan Huska has to feel good about the line combinations he chose to start camp with, as the top three units have started out gangbusters.
In Calgary, Connor Zary played on the left side of Mikael Backlund and Blake Coleman and responded by scoring twice and adding a helper Monday.
“They’ve been two guys who’ve been tops at playing a two-way game in the league for a long time,” said Zary of the plum assignment previously given to Andrew Mangiapane.
“Backs is the captain and Colesy has won Cups, and when you’re playing beside guys like that you want to do your part and kind of feed off of them and learn from them. That makes the game a lot easier.”
Both of Zary’s snipes came as a result of wicked releases, giving the second-year Flame the sort of confidence an assignment like this was aimed to generate.
“You try to find a little bit of a combination like (Andrew) Mang(iapane) had with those two guys, and Connor has some of the same characteristics — maybe not quite the dog on a bone mentality — but he does such a good job at holding onto pucks and creating,” said Huska of the line that racked up six points and was plus-six.
“When we threw things around 52 times this summer we came back to that one a few times. So, we’ll keep giving it a look to see if it continues to work for us.”
The other combo that came up aces on Monday was Yegor Sharangovich with Nazem Kadri and Andrei Kuzmenko.
Sharangovich scored twice on six shots, Kadri had a goal and an assist, and Kuzmenko added a helper
Daniil Miromanov also had a big night with a goal, an assist and was plus-3 alongside MacKenzie Weegar, who was plus-5.
MEANWHILE IN EDMONTON: Jonathan Huberdeau had three assists while debuting a line with Anthony Mantha and Martin Pospisil. Mantha had a goal and an assist with four shots on goal, while Pospisil added a helper on a line that was also plus-6.
Matt Coronato followed up a three-point night in Seattle a night earlier with a pair of goals, as the Flames posted the 6-3 win over an Oilers team that included Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Zach Hyman and Evan Bouchard.
First-round pick Sam Honzek had three assists and Justin Kirkland had a goal and two assists.
THE BASHA FLASH: The evening was a special one for Flames second-round pick Andrew Basha, who made his Flames pre-season debut in the Dome he grew up watching his Flames heroes, including Johnny Gaudreau, Sam Bennett and Sean Monahan. With legions of friends and family members in the stands, the 18-year-old skated on a line with William Stromgren and Sam Morton, while also getting plenty of touches on the power play.
“Very surreal for me to be able to do this,” said Basha, who knows he’s destined for Medicine Hat this season, where his stacked squad will have a legit shot at winning a Memorial Cup.
“I’m still 18 years old and I don’t really think there’s much pressure for me. It’s a process. Maybe there is a little extra spotlight because I’m from here, but at the end of the day it’s a privilege to have that.”
NOTES: Monday’s game in Calgary was the first chance for Flames fans to see the new Sportsnet+ scoreboard, which features four video screens measuring 30-feet wide, by 18-feet high — 3.75 times larger than the previous screens … The game also marked the first time the Flames have played a game with new boards installed at the Dome, giving players a chance to see how differently they react to various shots like the missed blast by Miromanov that bounced off the back boards and right onto Kadri’s stick for his goal … The Flames play their next pre-season game in Vancouver on Wednesday.
THE LINES (in Calgary):
Zary-Backlund-Coleman
Sharangovich-Kadri-Kuzmenko
Lomberg-Schwindt-Klapka
Stromgren-Morton-Basha
Weegar-Miromanov
Solovyov-Barrie
Grushnikov-Hanley
Vladar a
