20211025_lindholm

In The City That Never Sleeps - and on a game day in The Most Famous Arena in the World - Elias Lindholm is the talk of the town.
He, himself, is normally the quiet type. The prototypical, picture of humility that prefers to let his game do the talking.
Fortunately, for us, his teammates are more than happy to be singing his praises.

"He's a full, 200-foot player," said Chris Tanev. "He plays the game the right way and is a defenceman's dream in our end. He's always in the right spot, has a great stick, and he transfers that all the way up the ice. He has a great shot and their line has really good chemistry now - they feed off each other and they know where each other is going to be.
"Once they get that puck or in the O zone, they're able to make plays and create space."

CGY@WSH: Lindholm nets overtime winner for hat trick

Lindholm scored the OT winner to complete the hat-trick in Saturday's 4-3 win over the Washington Capitals, and now is tied with Connor McDavid, Tyler Bertuzzi, Anze Kopitar and Kyle Connor for the NHL's goal-scoring lead.
He has at least one goal in every game so far for a total six on the year - and with another tuck tonight at Madison Square Garden, he would tie Gary Roberts for the franchise record for the longest consecutive goal streak to begin a season.
Lindholm has never cracked the 30-goal plateau in his eight seasons on circuit - coming close, two years ago, when he had 29 in 70 games before the pandemic halted the 2019-20 campaign a few weeks early.
But with the way he's playing right now, No. 28 leaving nothing to chance.
It's far too soon to be talking about 'pace' (he's on track to score 123 goals, by the way), but how Lindholm is playing right now is proof that he's the complete package.
He scores, he defends, he's an ace in the faceoff circle, and will occasionally exhibit super-human strength (see that lovely short-handed effort that sent Capitals defenceman John Carlson "back to the gym," as Johnny Gaudreau so beautifully described).

CGY@WSH: Lindholm scores second goal shorthanded

The fact is, there isn't one part of Lindholm's game that isn't elite.
And only now is he getting the respect, league wide, that he deserves.
"He plays (the game) the right way," said linemate Matthew Tkachuk. "It starts in our end, and we're not playing as much now, which is great.
"He's shooting the puck a lot and he's got a great shot, a great release, and is very smart. He finds those open spots where it's third-guy high or whatever, and gets around the net is able to finish with the best of 'em. Right now, he's hot, so we're just trying to find him."
The Gaudreau-Lindholm-Tkachuk trio has been a force for the Flames this year.
They've scored 100% of the goals when they're on the ice, 5-on-5 (3-0), have a flat-out dominant 63.53% split of the shot attempts, and are running at or near 70% in scoring chances (29-12) and high-danger opportunities (9-4).
Defending is easy when you never give up the puck, and that's part of why this unit has been such a boon for the Flames.
But Lindholm, in particular, can do both at such a high level.
And when it comes to the defensive side of the puck, the effort doesn't go unnoticed.
"He's always in the right spot," Tanev said. "There are always little plays in the D zone that, I think, people don't see a lot - little 'pop' plays to the middle, or being two feet in the right spot, as opposed to being where we can't get him the puck and he can get some speed up the ice.
"He has a good stick, really good on the PK, and he thinks the game so well. He puts you and himself always in the right position when you're on the ice with him."