HE'S A MANG ON A MISSION

BOSTON - So, Andrew Mangiapane, what's it like to roll out of bed - near the quarter pole of the season - and be tied for second in NHL goal scoring with some guy named Alex Ovechkin?
"That's not bad," smiled the always affable Mangiapane. "I mean, I'm just going out there trying to help my team win. Right now, the goals are coming for me. It's definitely nice. But I'm more focused on just continuing to work hard and do my part to get two points for the team."

The feisty winger scored his team-leading 13th and 14th goals of the season Saturday night in a big 5-2 win over the New York Islanders on opening night of their new building, the UBS Arena.
The victory improved the Flames record to 10-3-5 this season.
He and Ovechkin - one of the most prolific scorers in league history who is currently trying to chase down Wayne Gretzky for first all-time in goals - have put up 14 tallies in 18 outings, trailing only league leader Leon Draisaitl, who has 18 goals in 17 tilts.

Mangiapane now has the third-most goals in franchise history in the team's first 18 games, tying Jarome Iginla (2001-02) and Joe Nieuwendyk (1989-90). Gary Roberts had 15 goals in the first 18 games in 1989-90 and Lanny McDonald had 16 in 1982-83.
He has four goals in his last two games, and six in the first six games of this season-long seven game road swing, that winds up tonight against the Bruins. So far, they 3-1-2 on this trip.
Mangiapane often makes hay getting to the so-called 'tough areas,' right in the middle of the ice between the bottom of the faceoff dots and on down to the blue paint. Right now, he's scoring from everywhere.
His two goals against the Islanders were near carbon copies of each other, redirecting shots by Noah Hanifin past Semyon Varlamov.

"I'm just getting to the net, getting in the middle there and just trying to get a stick on things, like last night," said Mangiapane. "I don't know, it's just working for me right now."
CalgaryFlames.com's Ryan Dittrick unearthed another wild stat: With an average of 11:18 of ice time per game, 5-on-5, Mangiapane is scoring at a ridiculous, 2.98 goals per 60 minutes. Only Seth Jarvis of the Carolina Hurricanes is in the same stratosphere (2.27), but he's played only half the games that No. 88 has. To compare, Draisaitl is at 1.06 Goals/60 (93rd); Ovechkin at 1.51 (23rd).
Mangiapane - like no doubt most folks who hear that stat - was surprised, but gave credit to head coach Darryl Sutter's philosophy to roll four lines and wear the opposition down with a complete team game.
"I think that's just how our team rolls, we're at our best when we roll four lines, when all four lines are contributing, " said Mangiapane. "Maybe not on points but doing productive things that help the next line have another good shift. It's building shift, on shift, on shift. Just giving that next line up a chance to succeed."
The balanced ice time can also keep players fresh throughout the game to maximize each of their shifts, especially late in a game when they need to close it out,
"If Looch's line goes out there and starts banging and crashing their D, it tires them out and then maybe our line comes out at the end of a shift or something and we catch them tired," he said.

After being named the MVP of Canada's gold-medal side at the recent world championship, Mangiapane's name is in the mix for Canada's upcoming Olympic squad.
His stellar showing to begin this campaign bodes well in that regard.
However, he stressed that he and his teammates are focused on the process right now and keeping up his production to help his team continue to win games is the real 'goal.'
"This is a game-by-game league," said Mangiapane. "It was a good win yesterday and all that, but now you have to focus on tonight and Boston. That's just our mentality - not to get too high or too low. You have to be ready every night."