Sunday night was far from a banner-worthy performance from Martin Pospisil. Facing off against the Edmonton Oilers, the Calgary Flames were able to erase a two-goal deficit to get things tied up early in the third period, but a major mistake from Pospisil killed any and all momentum they had built.
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That major mistake was an untimely penalty midway through the third period, when the 24-year-old got his stick up on Oilers defenceman Mattias Ekholm. It was a careless penalty that came as a result of Pospisil not moving his feet. To make matters even worse, it was an offensive-zone penalty, which always drive coaches crazy.
The Oilers did what the Oilers do and made the Flames pay, as Zach Hyman put a gorgeous backhand over Dan Vladar’s shoulder to regain the lead. That turned out to be all she wrote, as Mattias Janmark sealed things with an empty netter a short time later to give the Oilers a 4-2 win.
Huska Not Happy
If this were to be one-off from Pospisil, it would be pretty easy for head coach Ryan Huska and the entire Flames fan base to forgive him. After all, mistakes happen, and while it was a careless penalty, it clearly wasn’t a two-minute minor taken with intent.
This has become a rather regular occurrence for Pospisil, however, who is quickly drawing a reputation for taking penalties early on in his NHL career. He had 109 penalty minutes as a rookie a season ago, a rather ridiculous total given that he never appeared in a single fight. So far in 2024-25, it’s been more of the same.
To Pospisil’s credit, his 17 penalty minutes through 12 games don’t put him on as bad of a pace as he was at a season ago. Also, five of those penalty minutes came via a fight with Philadelphia Flyers forward Tyson Foerster. With that said, plenty of his infractions early on have been selfish, and he was even benched earlier in the season after taking two separate minors versus the Pittsburgh Penguins.
“We’ll do our best to coach it out of him. There are different ways you can do that, but a lot of that’s on the player,” Huska said postgame. “That’s twice now. It’s not okay.”
“He’s the type of player that’s gotta play with an edge, but it’s not a reckless style that he has to play,” Huska continued. “At the end of the day, points are so valuable, it’s so hard to win in this league. If you overstep the boundary a little bit, it can cost you a game. I think he understands it, and he’s got to really work to be a better player in that regard for us.”
Message Not Getting Through
As mentioned, Pospisil has been reprimanded for his lack of discipline before, having been benched earlier in the season. That clearly didn’t work, as he was right back to his old antics again last night. At this point, it’s quite clear as to what Huska needs to do to finally get that message through.
The Flames are back in action tonight against the Montreal Canadiens, and they’d be best served to have Pospisil sit as a healthy scratch. It’s not ideal, as he brings a uniqueness to their lineup thanks to his speed and physicality, but at some point, enough is enough.
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Not only should this serve as a wake-up call to Pospisil, but it will also show everyone else in the Flames room that undisciplined play will not be accepted. This isn’t a roster with a ton of talent, meaning that if they hope to compete, they need to play mistake-free hockey, which Pospisil has not done.
The Flames have the bodies to make this happen, as Justin Kirkland has been sitting out the past two games as a healthy scratch. He is more than deserving of getting back into the lineup with how well he’s played early this season, and putting him back in over Pospisil would be a difficult, but important message for Huska to send.
