LOS ANGELES — Trevor Lewis received an early wake-up call Wednesday, and he certainly wasn’t complaining.
The previous evening, the Calgary Flames’ fourth-line forward sniped his seventh goal of the season. Back in Calgary, two of his biggest fans — his four-year-old twins — wanted to say congratulations before school.
“These ones out west are a little late for them, so they find out in the morning and they call me on FaceTime and tell me, ‘Good job,’ ” Lewis beamed. “They’re getting fired up now.”
Rightfully so. While their father isn’t known for his offensive exploits, he’s provided some secondary-scoring oomph for the Flames this fall.
In fact, with seven tallies in 33 games so far, he has already surpassed his total from 2021-22. We are, remember, not even at the midway mark of the schedule.
Lewis doesn’t need to be lighting lamps to stay in the lineup — Darryl Sutter trusts the 35-year-old right-hander for his dependable defensive work and as a key piece on the penalty-kill — but it’s always nice to find the back of the net, to see smiling faces on his phone screen. (He and his wife welcomed their third child in the spring.)
His marker in San Jose doubled as a milestone moment. He has now notched 200 career points.
“I pride myself on being a two-way player and it‘s always nice to chip in,” Lewis said. “It’s definitely the fun part of the game, too.”
After picking up a pair of victories against the Sharks, the Flames will wrap their pre-holiday road-trip with a back-to-back SoCal swing — Thursday’s date with the Kings in Los Angeles and then another divisional dust-up Friday against the Ducks in Anaheim.
Lewis spent a dozen seasons in L.A., highlighted by a pair of Stanley Cup parades while Sutter was at the helm. He was reminded of those title runs during Wednesday’s twirl at the Kings’ practice facility, where the championship photos are on prominent display above the player benches.
“I gave a couple of peeks to make sure I’m still up there,” Lewis said with a smile. “It brings back a lot of memories, seeing those pictures.
“It’s just the feeling of being on the ice with the guys after and remembering when that picture happened right after the game and just how much of a battle it was. To go to war with those guys and come out on top, it was awesome.”
‘HUGE THANKS’
Chris Tanev is feeling good.
And feeling thankful.
The veteran blue-liner was back in action in Tuesday’s 7-3 triumph in San Jose. He was fortunate to avoid serious injury when he was struck in the head by a shot in a Dec. 12 matchup in Montreal. He missed only three games before clearing the return-to-play protocol.
“It’s awesome to be back at it,” Tanev said after Wednesday’s practice. “Huge thanks to our trainers, Dr. (Jim) Thorne, Dr. (Ian) Auld and then the doctors in Montreal. They were awesome and made sure I didn’t have any serious stuff wrong with my neck and brain and made sure that I was able to travel safely and things like that. I can’t thank them enough.
“To be back after going through a few days and going through the protocol, it’s something that I’m grateful for and happy for,” he continued. “I know sometimes it can take a lot longer than that.
“Obviously, it was sort of scary, but I can’t thank everyone enough for what they did to make sure I was OK and nothing really, really serious was wrong.”
Twitter.com/WesGilbertson
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