Zayne Parekh looked comfortable Tuesday night.
He was comfortable carrying the puck, joining the rush and driving the Vancouver net as if the ice belonged to him.
That confidence produced two assists and first-star honours as the Calgary Flames beat the Canucks 3-1 at the Scotiabank Saddledome for their first victory of the preseason.
Parekh helped create Calgary’s first and third goals late in the second period.
It followed his team-high 10 shot attempts in Sunday’s 4-2 loss to Seattle. His decisions were quicker, the risk more measured and the results followed.
“I feel like everything’s different this time around,” Parekh said to reporters. “I don’t want to get too high or too low. I’m just trying to build my game and make plays.”
Calgary outshot the young Canucks 30-9. They finally broke through at 15:00 of the second when Parekh fired an outlet to Matvei Gridin at the Vancouver blue line. Gridin sent Joel Farabee in alone, and Farabee beat Kevin Lankinen glove-side for a power-play goal.
Matt Coronato doubled the lead 2:30 later, snapping a wrist shot from the left circle. Parekh then attacked from below the goal line and tried to jam the puck past Lankinen. Sam Honzek converted the rebound at 18:58 to make it 3-0.
Parekh’s willingness to take that puck to the net was a snapshot of a player who no longer seems overwhelmed by NHL pace or possibility.
“I thought he played well,” head coach Ryan Huska said to reporters. “In his first exhibition game, he tried to do a lot with the puck. Tonight, I thought he made the plays that were there, and because of that, he looked really good at both ends of the ice.”
Huska sees a clear difference between the player in this camp and the wide-eyed prospect who arrived one year ago after dominating junior hockey.
Parekh had enjoyed so much success with the Saginaw Spirit that, in Huska’s view, he initially believed stepping into the NHL would come naturally. The league quickly taught him otherwise.
“He found fairly quickly that, ‘My goodness, I have to adjust parts of my game,’” Huska said. “Some of the things he could do in junior, he might not be able to do here right away.”
Parekh’s rookie season included NHL and American Hockey League stops, an injury and stretches outside Calgary’s lineup. He finished it strongly, however, scoring a spectacular solo goal against Los Angeles in the regular-season finale.
Huska said Parekh carried those lessons into his summer training and returned both physically and mentally prepared.
“He’s much more confident in his ability this year than he was last year,” Huska said.
Parekh feels it, too.
“The last two years I’ve been here, it hasn’t clicked for me,” he said. “I remember last preseason, it was a bit of a grind. I feel like my head’s in a good space and I’m playing good hockey.”
His partnership with Jake Middleton may be helping. Parekh said the veteran defenceman keeps the mood light while communicating constantly on the bench.
“We’re having a lot of fun,” Parekh said. “I’m learning a lot playing with him.”
Coronato also liked Calgary’s offensive-zone work, especially the traffic created around Lankinen and the defencemen’s success getting shots through Vancouver’s layers.
“We had a lot of zone time,” Coronato said. “I thought the D did a great job getting pucks through. We have to keep improving in that area, having bodies there, deflections, rebounds, that kind of stuff. But I thought it was a good start, and we’ll build on it.”
Coronato’s goal came off a sharp sequence with Gridin and Morgan Frost, although he was not ready to declare their line a finished product.
“There were definitely good moments,” he said. “There were moments we can be better on. We’ll watch it and look to improve.”
Arshdeep Bains spoiled Dustin Wolf’s shutout at 6:22 of the third period. Wolf stopped eight shots, Calgary went one-for-four on the power play and killed all three Vancouver advantages.
The Flames finish their abbreviated four-game preseason with road dates in Seattle on Thursday and Edmonton on Saturday. Huska expects stronger opposing lineups and more realistic tests in both cities.
For Parekh, those games offer another chance to keep his upward line moving without forcing it.
Tuesday showed why that balance matters. The dazzling skill remains, but the young defenceman is learning when to unleash it.
He looks far more comfortable.
The Flames look better for it.
