The last time that Chris Tanev suited up for the Calgary Flames, he couldn’t shoot.
It was painful to watch him try.
After gritting his teeth through a significant injury — a dislocated shoulder and torn labrum — in the Stanley Cup playoffs, the steady-eddie defenceman returned to action in Monday’s 4-1 pre-season victory over the Seattle Kraken at the Saddledome.
Tanev’s surgically repaired wing seemed just fine when he scored on his fourth shift of the evening, wiring a wrister inside the post on the blocker side.
“It’s always nice to score,” he said afterward. “Hopefully, it translates when it really counts.”
What really counted Monday — more than his first-period potting, more than the end result — was that Tanev was comfortable flinging shots and taking bumps from opposing forecheckers.
The Flames were careful not to rush his recovery, but the 32-year-old has passed all his medical checkups and stressed the importance of being able to knock off some rust before the regular season starts next week.
“It’s good to get back and get in a game and get up and down the ice and compete down low,” Tanev said. “I mean, you can mimic it in practice as much as you want, but it’s never going to be the same. It’s always a half a step quicker out during the game so it’s good to get out there.”
After Monday’s performance against the Kraken, there should be no doubt that Calgary’s most trusted shutdown sort will be out there on opening night.
Tanev registered three shots on net. He logged almost 20 minutes of ice time, paired primarily with Noah Hanifin. Although he finished with a plus-2 rating, he’ll be ticked that he wasn’t able to stop a cross-seam feed for Seattle’s lone lamp-lighting — a connection between Alex Wennberg and Matty Beniers on the power play.
On his own early scoring sequence, Tanev couldn’t sneak his initial effort past Beniers — the rising-star centre was feeling the sting after that block — but made the most of his second opportunity, beating netminder Martin Jones from the right dot.
“I think it just reinforced how everyone thought I was feeling,” he said post-game, reporting no issues with his shoulder. “Give credit to the doctors, medical staff, trainers for getting me where I need to be to be able to play tonight. I can’t thank them enough.”
Tanev wasn’t the only point-patroller to tickle twine Monday.
Michael Stone, making his annual case for another one-year contract with the Flames, scored a man-advantage marker on a bomb from the blue-line. Stone has three goals this fall, leading the team in that category.
Hanifin joined the fun, ripping a low slapper after a dish from forward Kevin Rooney.
Blake Coleman rounded out the scoring on a short-side squeaker.
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AROUND THE BOARDS
Tanev on being reunited with Hanifin, his partner for most of the condensed campaign in 2021: “I hadn’t played with him in quite some time but it sort of felt like yesterday. He’s such a good player and he made it really easy for me tonight” … Flames stalwart Jacob Markstrom started the pre-season on an 82-minute shutout streak. Impressive. He’d kicked aside a combined total of 27 shots in two outings before Beniers solved him with a one-timer on a third-period power-play. “Tonight, for me personally, it felt a lot better than the other game just with details, crease work, post work, stuff like that,” said Markstrom, who didn’t allow anything during a 40-minute tuneup last Wednesday against the Edmonton Oilers. “And once again, like last time, the guys played a great defensive game in front of me” … Like Tanev, Andrew Mangiapane was also seeing his first action of the fall. The sharpshooting winger had been slowed by a lower-body injury. He earned an assist on Stone’s strike … The Flames’ forward combinations are scribbled in pencil — and Darryl Sutter has his eraser ready. Monday’s mixing and matching included a new-look line of Nazem Kadri between Dillon Dube and Mangiapane, while Rooney was shifted from centre to left wing and was skating alongside Mikael Backlund and Coleman. Jonathan Huberdeau, Elias Lindholm and Tyler Toffoli have been together for all of training camp — all three were scratched against the Kraken — but Sutter warned that he’s not fully committed to that top trio, either. “I don’t think that’s shown who can play with who up front at all yet,” Sutter said after morning skate. “We’ve always liked Mikael and Blake together, so my preference is to leave them. But after that, I’m wide open to anything” … There’s another name to throw into the forward blender after the Flames claimed Radim Zohorna off waivers from the Pittsburgh Penguins. The 26-year-old Zohorna, handy at both centre and wing, collected two goals and six points in 17 NHL games last season … No word yet on Zohorna’s locker-room nickname, since Nikita Zadorov is already ‘Z.’ With both standing 6-foot-6, ‘Big Z’ and ‘Lil’ Z’ won’t be an option.
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OFF THE GLASS
The Kraken, for what it’s worth, were previously a perfect 4-0 during the exhibition slate. The Flames are now 4-2 … Sutter was short and to the point post-game when asked about professional tryout forwards Cody Eakin and Sonny Milano: “I think it’s challenging for both” … Fans were loving Saturday’s photo of Huberdeau seated atop Quick Six, the Calgary Stampeders’ touchdown horse. Kadri was also in attendance that night at McMahon Stadium, but he shook his head when asked if he saddled up on the sidelines. “That was a no-no for me,” Kadri grinned. “Too close to the season, I don’t need to risk blowing a hamstring or anything getting up on a horse” … Kadri, by the way, had an ‘A’ stitched on his sweater Monday … Mighty mite Matthew Phillips, the leading scorer last winter for the Flames’ farm club, was unclaimed on waivers. The 24-year-old right-winger was reassigned to the AHL’s Wranglers and should be an immediate fan favourite for Calgary’s newest team … The Flames will wrap their exhibition calendar with a home-and-home set against the Winnipeg Jets — Wednesday at Canada Life Centre and Friday at the Saddledome.
Twitter: @WesGilbertson
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