It was going to be a night to remember.
But a largely forgettable performance by the Calgary Flames, and a vexing Vancouver Canucks side, spoiled Mason Raymond’s debut in his home-town hockey sweater at Scotiabank Saddledome.
It started with a flashy pregame presentation more suited to a KISS concert than a hockey game.
Once the smoke cleared and the lights went up, Cochrane’s Raymond, a former Canucks forward, was on the ice for opening faceoff lined up with Lance Bouma and Mikael Backlund in Night 1 of the 2014-15 National Hockey League season.
If the Oct. 8 Flames home-opening 4-2 loss was any indication, the team is a work in progress. But it’s early days.
“Very average,” Raymond said in the dressing room following the tilt. “We didn’t have the desperateness we needed until late in the game. That was too little too late. We have to be better. Bottom line.”
Raymond followed that so-so season-opener with a hat trick the next night in Calgary’s 5-2 win over the Oilers in Edmonton. The goals pushed Raymond’s career NHL total over 100 (102).
Tasked with introducing young, skilled forwards like Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan to the rigours of elite pro hockey, Flames head coach Bob Hartley expects to lean on eight-year NHL veteran Raymond to aid the process. But Hartley is still evaluating the Cochranite’s role on the club.
“It’s tough right now to pinpoint Mason’s role because he got injured during training camp,” Hartley said outside the dressing room Oct. 8. “And we had quite a few veterans who had nagging injuries. As you saw, I changed my lines 3-4 times during the game because our plan was to play the last 2-3 exhibition games with our regular-season lineup. Even in the last game, we were not even close. These are situations you have to deal with. The more we find out about Mason, there will be more detail.”
Raymond provided more detail about the game he played in front of friends and family in Calgary.
“We have to play more like we did in the third, in all three periods,” he assessed. “If you don’t put together a 60-minute game, it’s going to be hard to win games. I think our special teams weren’t good enough. You can win these games on special teams. That 5-on-3 early in we had, those are the ones you want to capitalize on.”
