There’s a saying in hockey: if you take care of your goalie, your goalie can take care of you. That is to say, if you play well in front of your netminder and do the things you can do to minimize the great chances they face, they’ll do what they can to help the team win.

On Monday night in Toronto, the Flames weren’t great in front of Dustin Wolf, and it resulted in Wolf’s shortest outing as an NHL starting netminder. On Tuesday night in New York, the Flames were quite good in front of Dan Vladar, and it resulted in what Vladar called his easiest night as a Flame – facing just 13 shots in a 2-1 win over the Rangers.

Flames head coach Ryan Huska reiterated on Thursday morning after morning skate at Prudential Center that Wolf’s early exit against Toronto was not a reflection of Wolf’s performance, attributing it to the team’s discipline and lack of ability on the penalty kill.

The Flames may not be as stingy defensively against the New Jersey Devils on Thursday as they were against a struggling Rangers side, but an outing similar to Tuesday’s in terms of their effort and details is probably the expectation.

“We did a good job of, one, I would say winning races to lose pucks,” said Huska. “I thought we were there quicker, so we had the puck more in that game, and I thought we did a good job with our sticks too. So whenever I felt like a Ranger player had it, they looked up, we were kind of right in their face, and we didn’t give them a lot of space to get their game going. So if we could mirror that one tonight, we’d love to see that same type of effort.”

The Flames come into Thursday’s game with a 3-4-3 record over their past 10 games. The Devils have won four of their last five, and are 5-5-0 over their last 10 – they’ve been streaky. Huska was asked about the challenges the Devils pose about opponents.

“They’re a dynamic team,” said Huska. “They’re missing a couple players with injuries, but they still have tons of skill. And if you give them room, they’re a very dangerous team off the rush. And I think the one thing that you can’t underestimate against them is the quickness, how they can shift from defence to offence, and vice versa. They come back the other way really fast. So there’s a lot of challenges they possess. And I guess the other one that I should be mentioning is the special teams on that side. They’ve done a great job over the last little while.”

It’s no secret that the Flames haven’t score a ton this season: they enter Thursday’s action with the lowest goals for in the NHL, averaging 2.54 goals per game. They’ve gotten consistently good and occasionally excellent goaltending from both Wolf and Vladar; they’re 12th league-wide in all-situations save percentage and third in five-on-five save percentage.

Their win-loss record is primarily a reflection of how often they score goals, and Wolf’s goal support in wins and losses in an example of that. In 22 wins for Wolf, the Flames have scored 3.3 goals per game. In 19 Wolf losses, they’ve scored just 1.9 per game. The margins have been that tight for the Flames.

The Flames know how they need to play in order to win games, in terms of pace, discipline and structure. If the Flames can light the lamp three or four times a game, they tend to be successful. If they struggle to do that, their success becomes reliant on their goaltender standing their head.

This article is a presentation of Platinum Mitsubishi, family owned and operated by lifelong Calgarians. Home of the industry-leading 10-year, 160,000-kilometre powertrain warranty. Check out their showroom at 2720 Barlow Trail NE or online at www.mitsu.ca.