CALGARY — The only thing missing from Zayne Parekh’s goal-of-the-year candidacy was, um, the goal.
Otherwise, he would have been a frontrunner.
On a night in which the 20-year-old Flames defenceman stole most of the game’s thunder with a couple sassy forays, it was an audacious play by Parekh early on that had everyone shaking their heads in amazement the rest of the night.
It’s guaranteed to be Thursday’s water cooler talk around town, too.
The Flames finally appear to have a player that fans can identify as the one they’d pay the price of admission for.
And, boy, on Wednesday night did they get their money’s worth.
Parekh went into video game mode mere minutes into a 3-1 loss to the Rangers when he got the puck at the right point, where the right-handed shape-shifter stepped to his right with a nifty move around Eeli Tolvanen. Pointing his feet at 10 and two, with his back along the boards, he then cut to the middle with an outside-in move under the stick of former Flames prospect Glenn Gawdin.
Two big boy manoeuvres had him moving in alone from the faceoff dot with patience that froze goalie Joonas Korpisalo against the left post before Parekh decided to circle behind the net — feet again at 10 and 2 the way the game’s best skaters do it — with a wraparound attempt to stuff it in the other side of a gaping net with a forehand he executed perfectly.
Alas, the outstretched blocker of a diving Korpisalo swiped it off the goal line.
“That was a heck of a play by him. He got me swimming, and it's just straight desperation," said Korpisalo. "Dropped my stick to get my leverage, to get my blocker there, and I got lucky.”
“I thought the play was going to be dead when I tried to slip a guy’s triangle, and then next thing I know I was in the slot and I was looking for a pass back door and nothing was there,” Parekh explained.
“So I just tried to wrap it, and I think he makes a lucky save on it, to be honest.”
The grin on his face suggested he enjoyed the attempt as much as the fans did.
“I was laughing at the play a little bit too,” he confessed.
“Seemed a little bit outrageous. But yeah, it was outrageous he got his blocker on it. So kudos to him, I guess.”
He admitted the bench got a kick out of the attempt that almost opened the scoring and would have changed the complexion of the game.
“Almost — that’s the keyword these days,” said Parekh, who played a team-high 22:43.
“It feels like it’s just almost working for me, but I can’t finish these off.
“Matty (Matt Coronato) was loving it. I was sitting beside him afterwards and he thought it was hilarious.”
It was entertaining.
He is entertaining.
And for a player who entered the season as the most important prospect on the team, his ability to lift fans out of their seats and generate endless chatter is a huge development.
He finished with three shots on goal — all dangerous — three blocked shots and an effort that saw him play 3:03 of the team’s 3:54 in power-play time, earning what would have been the third assist on Adam Klapka’s goal to close the gap to 2-1 with 12 minutes remaining.
“I don’t want his ego to get too big, but the plays he’s making are special,” chuckled Ryan Strome.
“There’s not many guys in the NHL that can get the puck on their stick and transform the way the ice looks. I think it’s such a threat. I mean, every time he’s got the puck, something good can happen.”
Klapka weighs in
Klapka’s breakout season has earned him some power-play time, which he made good on late by establishing himself on the top of the paint and banging in a beauty dish from behind the net from Strome.
“When I was with the Wranglers, that was my role — I was playing on the first power play in front of the net,” said Klapka, who is tied for third on the team with four goals.
“I mean, I’m 260 pounds, so it’s kind of hard to move me.”
Fox still targeted
Yes, they are still booing Adam Fox in Calgary.
Every. Single. Time he touches the puck.
In fact, in a game in which the checking was tight, and the Flames were down and on their heels aplenty, the incessant booing during one particular power play quarterbacked by the Norris Trophy winner became almost as entertaining as Parekh’s daring dash.
Fox was drafted in the third round by the Flames in 2016, and while playing at Harvard, he told the club he’d only play in his hometown of New York, prompting a trade.
As it turns out, he was a bit of a trailblazer, leading what has become a growing list of Americans demanding their way out of Canadian markets.
Understandably, it’s a pretty unpopular trend north of the border.
Huberdeau & Honzek
Jonathan Huberdeau and Sam Honzek looked sharp in the morning skate, wearing full-contact jerseys.
Honzek was dispensed to the Wranglers afterwards for a conditioning stint, and Huberdeau remains on the verge of a return from his monumental hip surgery.
One night earlier, his agent, Allan Walsh, shared a picture on X of Huberdeau on the ice with the caption: “Coming soon to an NHL rink near you” #HubyDubyDoo. Huberdeau has looked good on the ice over the last week, and there’s no doubt he’s getting close to feeling comfortable enough to test his hip in game action. Only he will know when he’s ready.
