Lindholm fitting in, emerging as go-to player with Flames

NEW YORK -- Elias Lindholm got the tap on his shoulder to go on as the Calgary Flames' extra skater.

The Flames trailed the Colorado Avalanche by one goal and there were two minutes remaining in the third period. Flames coach Bill Peters could have chosen Johnny Gaudreau or Sean Monahan to jump on as the extra skater and nobody would have thought twice about it. He instead went with Lindholm, the forward he coached for the previous four seasons with the Carolina Hurricanes.
"He plays the right way so he's going to be in a lot of quality chances," Peters said.
Lindholm jumped on and darted down the left-wing wall. He stripped the puck from Matt Nieto, took it into the left circle and used his under-utilized and sneaky quick righthanded wrist shot to beat Semyon Varlamov for the tying goal.

Gaudreau scored in overtime. Calgary won, 3-2.
As far as goals go, that was a big one for Lindholm and the Flames, who had lost 5-3 against the St. Louis Blues two nights earlier and were that close to losing a second straight game in regulation, at Pepsi Center on Oct. 13, before a three-day break.
But Lindholm, the 23-year-old center turned right wing acquired in a trade with the Hurricanes on June 23, showed a snippet of his overall game, his stickwork, defense, IQ, shot and ability to seize a big moment.
The sample size is up to eight games and the snippets are becoming regular occurrences that are making the Flames look good for not only acquiring Lindholm but signing him to a six-year contract worth $4.85 million annually July 16.
"He generates chances all the time," Peters said.
They're going in for Lindholm at a career-best rate in the NHL.
He has eight points (five goals, three assists) in eight games despite being held off the scoresheet in a 4-1 win against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, the fifth win for Calgary (5-3-0) this season.
Lindholm didn't score his fifth goal until his 19th game last season. It took him until his 33rd game to score his fifth goal in the 2016-17 season. He has never scored more than 17 goals in a season (2014-15). He has never had more than 45 points in a season (2016-17).
"I always thought that I could score more and it's a good start for this season," Lindholm said. "I always knew I could be up by 25. I know I have a good shot and I'm just trying to go to the areas where the guys can find me. I'm getting the puck in good spots."
The obvious and easy reasons to cite for Lindholm's production are linemates Gaudreau and Monahan.
Micheal Ferland scored an NHL career-high 21 goals playing with them last season. Jiri Hudler scored an NHL best 31 goals and 76 points in 2014-15 playing with them. They make whoever is on their right wing better. Period.
"It's been some nice passes," Lindholm said with a smile.

But that's only part of the story. Gaudreau, 25, and Monahan, 24, are finding Lindholm in part because of their vision and skill, but also because Lindholm is finding the right areas on the ice. He's getting open. He's seemingly always available, always in the right position.
Case in point, his second goal in a 7-4 win against the Vancouver Canucks on Oct. 6. It was on the power play. The Canucks were focused on Gaudreau in the left circle. Lindholm quietly hung in the right circle. Gaudreau found him with a seam pass. Lindholm scored with that same wrist shot that beat Varlamov a week later.
"I knew from the beginning that the puck can come to me at any moment, that they'll find me through backdoors and stuff like that," Lindholm said. "It's in the back of my head that I can go to different spots and they will find me."
Gaudreau said playing with Lindholm reminds him of playing with Hudler because of the skill, the smarts, and the quick chemistry he and Monahan have developed with him.
"We're all three pretty young guys and we all have four, five or six years left on our contracts," Gaudreau said. "Hopefully we keep building this chemistry and we're playing together for a long time."
It wasn't clear at first if Lindholm would get the opportunity to play with Monahan and Gaudreau. James Neal signed a five-year, $28.75 million contract with the Flames on July 2 and the instant analysis suggested he would be on their line.
Peters, though, has used Lindholm in that spot from the start of training camp in China.
At first, he said it was because of face-offs, with Monahan coming off wrist surgery in the offseason and the Flames wanting to make sure he took them mostly on his strong side (left).
Now it's because of face-offs -- Monahan and Lindholm have combined to win 58.7 percent (115 of 196) -- and the offense they're generating after the draw.
"There's some chemistry amongst those three," Peters said. "[Lindholm] is a real good responsible player and it's good to see him getting rewarded."