'He's Playing Awesome'

To no one's surprise, it was a jubilant group in the Flames dressing room following their 5-2 victory over the visiting Maple Leafs Monday night.

After a quick address by head coach Ryan Huska to the group, Adam Klapka, the previous winner after Saturday night’s 4-1 win over the Red Wings, was up to hand off the hard hat and safety vest to the player of the game.

“I think the last couple games he’s playing awesome … Pospi,” said Klapka, to cheers.

Awesome is an apt description for Pospisil, who has continued to elevate his game each night with his physical play and all-out approach to every shift, collecting a couple of points against Toronto.

He had an assist off a sublime cross-ice pass to Matvei Gridin on his first goal to open the scoring for Calgary, then capped it off with a long-distance empty-netter from his zone for the home side’s final tally of the night.

In an outing that featured no shortage of players that could have been awarded the hat and vest, Pospisil’s nod spoke to the impact he’s having for the club.    

“Yeah, it feels great,” said Pospisil Tuesday, following an optional practice before the team hoped on a plane for the short flight to Edmonton where they face the Oilers Wednesday night, looking to extend their four-game win streak.

“I think I was pretty good, pretty good game, and I think each line was playing really good. I think the whole 60 minutes we played our game and I think we dictated the game and we just have to keep playing like that and if you don’t give them too much space, especially the top players, then you know it’s pretty hard to play against us.”

The Flames will get another stiff test against the league’s leading scorer, Connor McDavid, and 8-2-2 Edmonton in the provincial capital, but Pospisil is ready for the challenge, often tasked with matching up against the opposition’s best this campaign.

“Yeah, I mean (it’s a) boost to the confidence a lot,” said Pospisil. “You know, just more motivation to play against the top players. You wanna be the guy that is really hard to play against. So, it doesn’t matter who is against me on the line. But, of course, it’s a privilege to play against the top players, top lines.”

Confidence, overall, is something the Flames have in spades right now, continuing to grow with each skate during their sweep of this recent homestand.

“You know, in sport, to have confidence, I think it’s huge - especially in hockey,” said Pospisil. “I think each line is building the confidence. You see the older guys, the younger guys, I think everyone is playing really good. We know we don’t have many superstars in the team, but we have the guys who can score and play hard. So, as you can see (in the) last four games, we can win against any team in the league.

“So, we just have to stick with our plan, have really good special teams and play really hard in the D zone and then we can score a couple of goals for sure.”

One big change for Pospisil has been a return to centre, playing between Gridin and Ryan Strome and settling into the position.

He was asked what’s worked this time for him switching back to that role after some previous stints there.

“It’s hard to tell, but maybe talking with Husk during the summer, he told me that I will get a chance to play centre,” said Pospisil. “So … I had a really long summer to prepare to show that I can play centre and I was working on some details also in the summer, just mentally prepare for that position because, as you know, it’s not easy to play centre in the NHL.”

Nothing is, especially winning. But perhaps Pospisil summed it up best after putting the hard hat and vest on.

“Let’s just keep rolling.”