'They Do Things Right'

ST. LOUIS — Tried, tested, and true.

A cursory Google search of that phrase brings up instant pot recipes and more, but for the Flames, the trio of Mikael Backlund, Blake Coleman and Sam Honzek has shown to include the right ingredients, too.

They’ve developed some consistency, they’ve gained a bit of confidence with the puck, and as Backlund and Coleman have done with younger players before, they’re helping the soon-to-be 21-year-old Honzek in his NHL crash course this fall.

Coleman leads the team with six goals entering tonight’s tilt with the Blues, while he and Backlund sit one off the team lead with a half-dozen even-strength points apiece.

Honzek, just 20 games into his NHL career, scored his first NHL tally the last time Calgary hit the road; a memorable marker at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.

And the unit has been the one forward combo that Head Coach Ryan Huska has stuck with for most of the season. In fact, the Backlund-Coleman-Honzek line has skated together in all but one contest since the Flames’ home opener - against these Blues - just under one month ago.

After helping the likes of Connor Zary and Matt Coronato get up to speed in years past, Coleman’s early impressions of Honzek are positive, too.

“He's got a lot of the intangibles. He's big, he can skate. He's strong,” Coleman said Tuesday morning. “So it's nice to see him piece it all together, and he's an easy guy to play with.

“He dictates the pace of the game and he's responsible in our end, which is important for our line, and looks to generate some offence as well. (He’s) one of those guys that I expect to get better and better as the year goes on.”

The trio was Calgary’s most consistent line two nights ago in Minnesota. They outshot their opponents at 5-on-5 by a 15-3 margin, outchancing the Wild 6-1 (according to Natural Stat Trick).

Encouraging signs for the bench boss, and Huska is certainly optimistic that unit will cash in again soon.

“They do things right, and I think that's important when you have a line that you know you can trust to put on the ice, when maybe a momentum isn't on your side, that you know they'll go out and they'll shift it for you,” Huska explained after Tuesday’s morning skate. “They've always kind of been that way - Mikael and Blake - whoever plays with them, and now, I think with the pace that Sam plays at and his size and his skating ability, it allows him to kind of fit in seamlessly and up the tempo that line is capable of playing at.

“So I think they've done a really good job with the zone time, now it's about doing something with the zone time. So finding a way, to generate more off of their possession time will be important for that line.”

Coleman, Huska, and the rest of the Flames traveling party would love nothing more than to walk out of Enterprise Center with two points at about 10 p.m. Central Time this evening.

And there’s a good chance Coleman’s line will be front and centre, trying to make that happen.

Trying to be catalysts on the ice.

“A line, a player, whatever it may be, it's important that the team builds off of something like that,” said Huska. “So when you have a line that's giving you offensive zone time, a lot of possession time, like Mikael’s line, that next line over the boards has to be committed to doing the same thing, and that's how you build.

“That's how you continue to go in the right direction.”