It would have been a memorable night in Los Angeles for Zaybe Parekh, Sam Morton, Hunter Brzustewicz and Aydar Suniev regardless of what happened
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“That was awesome.”
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Yes, Zayne Parekh, it certainly was.
After the gut-punch of seeing their playoff hopes dashed on Tuesday, the Calgary Flames gave four rookies their NHL debuts.
That, on its own, would have been pretty awesome.
The four solo laps, the pre-game pictures at mid-ice, the families in the stands … it would have been a memorable night in Los Angeles for Parekh, Sam Morton, Hunter Brzustewicz and Aydar Suniev regardless of what happened during Thursday’s game.
But what did happen only made it more special.
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Brzustewicz and Suniev looked like they belonged on the NHL ice in the Flames’ 5-1 win over the Kings. And Parekh and Morton? Well, they both punctuated their first NHL games by scoring their first NHL goals.
“I think that’s good as it gets,” a beaming Parekh told reporters post-game before thanking the long list of friends, family and mentors who helped him along the way.
Unsurprisingly, Morton felt the same way.
“Honestly, all the days growing up playing hockey and tonight is one of those nights that remind you why you love the game and how special it can be and all the people that helped you get here and you try to be grateful for that,” Morton said.
There was a lot to like about Thursday’s game. If it hadn’t been for the four guys making their debuts, we might be talking about Nazem Kadri scoring his 34th and 35th goals of the season. This story might be about Mikael Backlund moving into a tie for the sixth-most goals of all-time with the legendary Lanny McDonald after he lit the lamp for the 215th time in his career. Or we might focus on Dan Vladar, who stopped 30 of 31 shots.
But the focus, rightfully, needs to be on the four young stars.
They were given an opportunity and they made the most of it.
“A lot of exciting times today with families in town and four young guys who get the chance to play their first NHL game,” Flames head coach Ryan Huska told reporters. “It’s neat to see the smiles on their faces and even neater to see a couple of them get to score and have opportunities in this game.
“I thought they all did a really good job for us playing their first game and they were factors in us getting this win tonight.”
Instead of our usual post-game three takeaways, let’s take a look at how each of the four rookies fared on Thursday.
The prospect in the Flames with the highest ceiling, Parekh knew there were a lot of eyeballs on him on Thursday night.
And he handled it just fine.
Selected ninth overall in last year’s draft, the 19-year-old blueliner is coming off a phenomenal season with the Saginaw Spirit in the OHL and while he didn’t dominate Thursday’s game the way he did throughout his junior career, that’s not a reasonable expectation.
Parekh was a plus-three on the night with two shots on net and, of course, his goal, which came off a pretty deflection from a pass/shot by Mikael Backlund.
He almost immediately ran into Blake Coleman afterwards, though, and politely helped pick the veteran off the ice before celebrating.
“I wonder if I get credit for a hit and a goal, I don’t know how that works,” Parekh joked afterwards. “I honestly didn’t even think about the goal, I just started looking at Colesy.”
Hopefully, there are going to be a lot more goals for Parekh to celebrate. There’s absolutely no reason for him to return to junior for another year and he’ll be too young to play for the Wranglers in the AHL next season, so with a good summer he should be a regular with the NHL club starting in September.
He didn’t score, but that doesn’t mean Brzustewicz didn’t play well.
The 20-year-old was a plus-two and registered two shots on goal while generally looking comfortable paired with Brayden Pachal.
It took Brzustewicz a little while to get going in the AHL this year, which is to be expected for a first-year pro, but it’s worth noting that the 31 points he recorded were the fourth-most among rookie blueliners in the AHL this year. He also had seven points in the Wranglers’ last eight games before being called up.
He didn’t look out of place on Thursday. It was an encouraging first NHL game.
Could Morton be the Flames’ fourth-line centre next season? It’s only one game, but on Thursday he provided a compelling argument for himself.
It wasn’t just his goal, although we have to talk about that, obviously.
Morton did a great job going to the net and redirecting a pretty feed from Ryan Lomberg after the excellent-all-night Dryden Hunt had done a great job attacking the zone.
The excitement was palpable from the 25-year-old, who is at top of a thin crop of centre prospects in the Flames system.
He was won three of the six faceoff shots he took and was around the net all night.
A restricted free-agent this summer, you’d have to expect that Morton has a bigger role to play for the Flames next season.
The 20-year-old Russian signed with the Flames after finishing his career at the University of Massachusetts a couple weeks ago and was paired on a line with Kadri and Adam Klapka for his first game.
That should tell you something about how highly the Flames think of him — and how dangerous his shot is when he unleashes it.
Drafted in the third round by the Flames in 2023, his stock has only risen in the years since.
He finished a plus-two on Thursday with one shot.
daustin@postmedia.com
www.twitter.com/DannyAustin_9
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