BUFFALO – Wrinkles and Crinkles.
Dennis Gilbert was responsible for bringing both, playing the unlikely hometown hero in the Calgary Flames first road win of the season Thursday.
An hour before providing 200 of his mother’s chocolate Crinkle cookies for his teammates, Gilbert added a wrinkle to his game few saw coming: the playmaker.
Early in the third period of a 2-2 see-saw battle, the former Buffalo Jr. Sabre stepped up to make a big hit at his own blueline on Zach Benson, led the rush into Buffalo’s zone before starting a tic-tac-toe sequence to a trailing Matt Coronato that was then buried by Blake Coleman.
“Little Dennis – Buffalo’s hometown kid,” chuckled Coleman of the local media darling the last few days.
“It’s all him.
“He made a great play.
“He outmuscled a guy for the puck, led the rush and I got a great pass from Matty. There wasn’t much for me to do except get it on the net.”
Everyone at KeyBank Center was surprised Coronato opted for the dish, including Buffalo Sabres goalie Devon Levi and Coleman himself.
The Sabres responded a few minutes later, before Adam Ruzicka scored the eventual winner five minutes into the third.
And while Ruzicka’s second goal in as many games was also part of a noteworthy night, he too couldn’t resist paying homage to Gilbert, as the former quarterback was mingling outside the locker room with more than 70 friends and family.
“It’s his hometown so he’s got to show something in this town,” laughed Ruzicka.
“Great play for him and a real great goal.”
Ruzicka’s winner came on a night in which he had been elevated to the first power play unit, replacing Coronato to be a larger net-front presence.
Another wrinkle.
“As you can see I’m a pretty big boy,” smiled the 6-foot-4, 215-pound Slovak, who has fit in nicely on Nazem Kadri’s second line, scoring twice and adding a pair of helpers.
“So I’m there for the goalie not to see the puck, and clean up the rebounds. Because you’re on the first power play you have to make some plays.”
Symbolic of just how much of a team effort the 4-3 win was, 12 different Flames all had a point in a game that marked the fourth straight outing in which the team has improved its play.
“We’ve gotten better each game and maybe a little chemistry starting to form,” said Coleman, whose club moves to 2-1-1 with two games left in a five-game eastern roadie that continues Friday in Columbus.
“I thought we were resilient, and we were the better team 5-on-5.
“Big kills, some big saves by Vladdy (Dan Vladar), a couple timely goals and I think we deserved to finally get a road win.”
Vladar’s first start of the season came three days after a flu bug derailed plans to start in Washington Monday.
Although he looked shaky on a pair of first period goals from Erik Johnson and Tage Thompson, he did well to help kill four of five penalties while making 12 of his 24 saves in the third period.
“It’s huge,” said the Flames backup of his first win of the year.
“I didn’t play for a while, and after that first period where I didn’t have a lot of shots and two rough goals, I just had to battle through.
“I’m happy guys helped me out. Good win for us.”
Gilbert spent the last few days talking about how much easier the game is when playing alongside a veteran like Chris Tanev, giving him increased confidence to carry the puck a little longer and make the sort of play he made Thursday.
“Like anything, the more you do something the more comfortable you get,” said Gilbert, a noted fighter who is vying to remain the team’s regular sixth defenceman.
“I recognized I had a little bit of time, so don’t rush it, take your time, find the late guy coming, which was Matty, and he made a great pass to Colesy and there you go.”
The Flames also got first period goals from Jonathan Huberdeau and Walker Duehr, who have both started the season well.
Getting Vladar into a rhythm is a priority for the Flames, who know they have three capable goalies in their system, including Jacob Markstrom and AHL star Dustin Wolf.
“You always want to leave the rink feeling you contributed to something and when you’re a goaltender, that typically is a win and making a key save at the right time, and he made some of those for us in the third period,” said coach Ryan Huska.
“He was coming off a bout of not feeling very well so I thought his game got better as it went on.”
