VETERAN SAVVY

Unlike a seething Clark Griswold during his famous holiday rant, the 'crazy look' in the eyes of the Flames' No. -1 puck-stopper is far more assuring.
"There's this thing with Marky and I noticed it when I was younger," said Erik Gudbranson, who played with Markstrom as a member of the Florida Panthers. "If you look at him - like, you get a foot away from his eyes in the middle of the game - it's a different look he's got in him.
"It's a very calming look for me to see him that dialled in.
"He's always been like that."

From the outside, we, the fans and media alike, see Markstrom as the ultimate competitor.
And he is.
But sometimes, too - and usually after a big save - the camera zooms in and shows a lighter side of one of the game's elite athletes.
"It's nice when he smiles at you," Gudbranson laughed. "I prefer that to if he's not. I appreciate him smiling at me."
Certainly, a .940 save percentage, a 1.73 goals-against average, and a league-leading, single-season career-high of five shutouts will help to lighten the mood, no matter who's at the helm.
But Markstrom is now a 10-year veteran.
A pro's pro that's been there, done that, and because of a boundless resume at all levels of the game, never gets rattled.
It's a big reason why the Flames have had success this year.
Because Markstrom - as good as he's been - isn't alone.
"There's a lot of experience on this team," Gudbranson said. "We throw that word around and never really explain what it means - but that kind of is what it means.
In those situations, you've been in those situations before where you know how to handle them. Having such a large collection of guys that have that experience - especially deep in the playoffs - those are moments where potentially a young guy could be a bit nervous or a bit skittish around those. Whereas this group is like, 'OK, I know what to do here,' or, 'We know what to do here.' You don't have to talk about it. They've been in those situations and know how to get out of them. Whether it's the next shift or the next game, at some point they're going to break through and that's added a lot of confidence in this group."

Take Tuesday, for example.
The Flames returned home from an epic seven-game road swing and were admittedly running on fumes.
But they found a way without their 'A' game, and had the former Cup winners to thank.
Trevor Lewis and Milan Lucic played north of 12 minutes and contributed with a pair of key goals to, first, help erase a first-period deficit - then, salt away the two points with a crucial, empty net tally.
"It doesn't bother them who scores and who doesn't," Head Coach Darryl Sutter said afterward. "It's about winning. And it tells you about those guys that have championships.
"I think it's still filtering through our team, for sure. You can see tonight, the experience from our older guys is really important."
Combined, the Flames' fourth line with Lewis, Lucic and centre Brad Richardson have 2,620 nights of NHL know-how.
Lucic, the pack leader, accounts for 1,034 of them, and showed exactly what kind of teammate he is when he played the role of a "sweeper," guiding the puck into the yawning 6x4 so his likeable linemate would get credit.
Markstrom has 300-plus games; Gudbranson, nearly 600.
The longest-serving Flame, Mikael Backlund, is approaching the 800-game
plateau.
Point is, the Flames are on top of the conference right now because they have more than great goaltending and some of the league's top scorers.
They have a group that understands what it takes, has been through adversity, and has come out the other side stronger than ever, because they've learned from those moments, both good and bad.
"You really break it down to that present moment and take care of that moment," said Gudbranson, who's yet to experience a deep run like the former Kings have, but arrived on scene with the weight of the world as the third pick in the 2010 Draft. "Take it day-by-day, on a game-by-game basis and make sure that your next shift is a good one. If you have a bad one, set your teammate up for his next one.
"We're going to hit adversity at some point, too, but we're a tight-knit group that holds each other accountable and we're able to talk things through.
"Even further than that, you can even look at a guy and understand what's going through his head and understand that we've got to get this thing going on the right track. The idea is to avoid that adversity by (continuing) to build our foundation, keep bring strong with it and if that moment hits, you can ask every guy in the room right now and he'll be pretty confident in saying we can find a way out of it and come out on the positive end of it."
Flames goalie Dan Vladar had a similar take on things. The 24-year-old made his return to Boston last week, overcoming the nerves of playing his former team and posting a 28-save shutout.
He mentioned on the Firestarter Podcast that being a younger guy, he leaned on the veterans to help calm some of the anxiety that night.
"I looked over at Looch and he played, what, 600 games with the Bruins?" Vladar said.
"But he was calm.
"For him, it was another game."
At 12-3-5 through the first quarter of the campaign, that mindset is rubbing off on everything.