Minutes after Dustin Wolf came in in relief for his first appearance in two weeks, Ryan Huska was asked if his goaltender’s chief goal was to build confidence.
“He just needs to play,” smiled the Flames coach.
“That’s all it is — get his back up a little bit and just go play. He’s a really good goaltender. He gives us a chance to win every time he’s in the net.”
With Devin Cooley’s five-game heater stopped by an injury that is expected to keep him out week-to-week, Wolf is already making good on his chance to return to form.
Wolf won his second consecutive start Monday in San Jose, stopping 26 of 27 shots in a 2-1 win at a SAP Center rink he’s intimately familiar with.
He’s now 11-2 against the Sharks, which includes going 5-1 in the rink in which his family had season tickets when he was a kid.
“I’ve got a lot of memories in this building as a fan, growing up watching the Sharks for a long time,” said the native of nearby Gilroy, Calif., who had his grandmother, cousins and an aunt and uncle in attendance.
“I didn’t have the start to the year, on a personal level, that I wanted. (Two weeks off) gave me a chance to kind of reset my mind and work on some parts of my game I wanted to get better at. I feel pretty confident in that now.”
Wolf was particularly under siege in the final two minutes of the second period, when a Sharks power play had the Flames pinned in their zone for the entirety of Simon Nemec’s too-many-men penalty.
With the Flames up 2-0 in the third, Sam Dickinson beat Wolf through a crowd with eight minutes left, but Wolf held steady despite a late Sharks push.
Wolf has now won two in a row for the first time this year.
As the game’s first star, it’s safe to say he is rebuilding his confidence.
Fourth line is the charm
Two games after setting the tone for the team’s 6-2 win at home with his early first period fight with six-foot-nine, 242-pound Curtis Douglas, 26-year-old Adam Klapka managed to be front and centre once again.
Seconds after returning to the ice following a first period tripping penalty, Klapka intercepted a pass at San Jose’s blue line and used the defenceman as a screen to snap a low screamer past Yaroslav Askarov’s outstretched glove.
As the elder-statesman on a checking line that featured Wranglers call-ups Jonathan Castagna and William Stromgren, Klapka played another big role in neutralizing the Sharks when on the ice, using his body and eventually cashing in with a shot that has proven to be sneaky dangerous.
So impressive was his play, there he was playing the final minute of the game, alongside Martin Pospisil and Matvei Gridin, holding on to a one-goal lead.
Castagna played a role in the first goal, as he got his stick on the clearing pass that wound up on the big man’s stick.
But Calgary’s fourth line wasn’t done there.
Midway through the third period of a game the Flames were leading 1-0, Castagna made a great play to chip the puck out of Calgary’s zone to Klapka, who carried it into San Jose’s zone and made a pass to Stromgren out front where he batted in his first NHL goal.
The 23-year-old Swede had his first shot stopped, but whacked the puck out of mid-air to beat Askarov for what would be the game-winner.
Not a bad season debut.
“First goal is kind of a dream – you don’t think further than that,” said Stromgren after the game when asked if he ever fathomed his first NHL snipe would be a game winner.
“I kind of blacked out there – just saw Klapper jumping. Nice to see both of us being up and playing together, and a goal for me.”
Klapka agreed.
“We spent a lot of time together in the AHL as roommates on the road, so it’s awesome to see a guy like him score, and I’m really happy I could be a part of it,” said Klapka, who grabbed the souvenir puck for his pal.
“When Wolfie has his game he’s one of the best goalies in the league and we were really happy he had it tonight, and I believe he’s now going to put his foot on the gas.”
Stromgren is a second-round pick of the Flames in 2021, who was called up to replace injured Brennan Othmann after picking up 11 points in 11 games with the Wranglers.
All five points came from Flames fourth liners, and the team’s defensive structure helped Wolf carry them the rest of the way.
The lines
Farabee – Backlund – Coronato
Suniev - Frost – Sharangovich
Gridin – Pospisil - Strome
Stromgren - Castagna – Klapka
Bahl - Nemec
Middleton – Whitecloud
Kuznetsov - Parekh
Wolf
Up next: The Flames wrap up their three-game road trip with a 9 p.m. MT start in Seattle Wednesday.
