ROAD TO 'REDEMPTION'

It all happened so fast.
With trace amounts of ink still drying on that crisp, new contract, the path forward become that much clearer.
Soon, and with a shot of adrenaline offered by the very thought of his new surroundings, Cam Talbot had a visitor at his off-season home in Ontario.
Flames goaltending coach Jordan Sigalet had made the trek across the border.
And together, they got to work.

"He made a five-hour drive up from Ohio, stayed for an hour-long goalie session, sat down and had dinner with us, and then drove five hours back that night," Talbot said. "If that's not commitment to your craft - and to your goalies - I don't know what is.
"He deserves a ton of credit for doing that - I've honestly never seen that before. It was nice to get to sit down with him for a couple hours and get to know him a little bit before I got to Calgary. ... We went over expectations and broke down a few things in my game that I could focus on throughout the rest of the summer.
"I think that was the start of a great relationship and we've been building that ever since."

From July 1, 2019, to Aug. 9, 2020 - into the First Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and showing no signs of stopping.
No, it hasn't always been easy.
But Talbot had one thing on his mind as he put to pen to paper and eventually strapped on the pads for the first time with his new club, a word he has uttered often: Redemption.
One year later and he's playing some of the best hockey of his career.
"I realized very early on in that meeting how much of a pro he is, why he's played as long as he has, and how he's been able to be so successful," Sigalet said. "He's always willing and eager to learn - always trying to get better.
"You saw it last series. He's just unflappable out there. You can see his focus and that calming presence back there, and the effect it has on the team.
"He's been excellent for us."
Talbot knew he had the ability to bounce back and be a No.-1 goaltender in this league again.
While his time with Calgary's archrival up north finished on a sour note - including two, separate, non-playoff appearances before getting dealt to the Philadelphia Flyers late last year - confidence, or a lack thereof, played a large part in his struggles.
Fast-forward to that summertime meeting, when excitement soon re-ignited and the prospect of starting fresh with a storied franchise took hold, and Talbot could sense the unmistakable jolt of confidence coursing through his veins.
"As a goalie, I feel like you don't really 'lose' your ability, but you sometimes you don't feel like you want to be or you have in the past," Talbot said. "Right now, I feel as good - as confident - as I ever have, and think I'm playing as well as I have throughout my career as well."

The numbers back that up.
With a 3-1 record and a .945 playoff save percentage under his belt entering the First Round against the Dallas Stars, Talbot has once again been the story of the summer for this team on the rise.
But that shouldn't come as too much of a surprise.
In fact, his game has been trending this way for some time already.
The 33-year-old had a stunning second half to the regular season, posting a staggering .927 save percentage in 19 appearances dating back to Dec. 1. That put him into a tie for sixth in that category with Vezina Trophy finalist Tuukka Rask in that span.
Prior to that, he saw limited action, starting only seven of the Flames' first 30 games, but never seemed to get the kind of run support his play deserved. As a result, he suffered a loss in all but one of those early season matchups, and entered the winter months with an .893 save percentage and a 3.23 goals-against average.

Talbot, though, is the consummate pro, and knew that if he stuck with it, the effort would soon bear fruit.
Now?
He's virtually unstoppable.
"We weren't playing very well as a whole early in the season, so we rode Ritter (David Rittich) a little bit and we didn't want to throw Cam in there and cause him to lose the confidence that he had gained," Sigalet said. "Once our team started playing better, more of a team game, it was easier to throw him in there and get his confidence going.
"He always found a way to keep us in games and give us a chance to win. You could see throughout the whole year, that's been one of his biggest strengths - that you know what you're going to get from him on any given night. When he's on his game, he looks calm, he's focused, and he makes the game look easy.
"Just look. How easy is he making it seem right now?"
That's partly why Sigalet - the Flames' goaltending guru for the past six years - laughs when asked about the uniqueness of his role.
Yes, he works on the technical aspects of the game with both Talbot, Rittich, and prospects Jon Gillies and Artyom Zagidulin, who are also part of the roster inside the Edmonton bubble. But he's also their part-time life coach, offering support and shouldering much of the responsibility as all four navigate the ups and downs of a gruelling hockey season.
"It's good to make contact with guys just to get a sense of where they're head's at, how they're feeling about things," Sigalet said, pointing to that first meeting with Talbot. "You don't want to overwhelm anybody, either, so we just talked about some areas of his game that I saw.
"I also got a good relationship going with his personal goalie coach, Pat Dipronio. We all got on the same page, made some minor tweaks to his game and the more he played here, the more you got to see the confidence and those little adjustments in his game really take over."

Talbot knows the value of that support system better than most.
At this time last year, he was coming off a disappointing season with the Oilers and Flyers, with a combined record of 11-17-3, with a bloated save percentage and a goals-against average unbecoming of his career average.
But in working with Dipronio and now Sigalet to correct course over the past year, that discouraging campaign is long in the past.
Including his three victories over the Winnipeg Jets in the qualifying round, he's now won 11 of his last 16 decisions, including six of his last seven, with a 31-save, series-clinching shutout to lead the Flames into the First Round.
Redemption, indeed.
"I never felt like I was playing poorly this year," Talbot said. "I think there was a combination of factors at play early in the season. I was put in some tough buildings on the road, some back-to-backs, and we were having trouble scoring goals at that point, too.
"I think it's one of those situations where the numbers can be skewed against you.
"I felt pretty good from the get-go, even though my numbers didn't really dictate that early. But I think I've been pretty consistent throughout the whole year."

He has.
But a little luck never hurts, either.
Of the 110 pucks fired his way during the Winnipeg series, one stands out for the all right reasons.
When Kyle Connor took off a breakaway late in Game 2, Talbot came up with a miraculous, lunging effort to steal a goal from the would-be 40-goal scorer.
"That definitely wasn't the execution I planned for," he laughed. "Pure desperation. I heel-picked and basically just fell backwards.
"But hey…
"I made the best of it. I threw everything I had at that puck to keep it out and luckily got a piece of it with the glove.
"Sometimes you've got to throw out the playbook."
Stumbles happen.
But as Talbot shows, it's your ability to fight back and press on that matters most in this game.