![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/indicator-big.gif\")
<\/p>\n\u201cFor the last two and a half months, you can take a few games and throw them out, but he\u2019s been a much better player for us,\u201d Huska said.<\/p>\n
\t<\/p>\n
After an impressive rookie campaign in 2023-24 with 14 goals and 34 points in 63 games, Zary\u2019s sophomore season was marred by two serious knee injuries that knocked him out of the lineup for extended periods.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo start the year, something was off,\u201d said Huska. \u201cWhether it was (the injuries) in the back of his head, I\u2019m not sure what it was, but he wasn\u2019t the player that he is now, and I think he\u2019s feeling better about his game too.\u201d<\/p>\n
With 11 goals and 24 points through 66 games, Zary\u2019s production is down, but the 2020 first-rounder is heading in the right direction.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis game has really trended upwards and this is probably the best he\u2019s played for us this season,\u201d said Huska.<\/p>\n
With Calgary out of playoff contention, the focus has shifted to seeing what players do with the opportunity before them with veteran forward Nazem Kadri traded to the Colorado Avalanche and Jonathan Huberdeau lost for the season after hip surgery.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe players understand that they have opportunity in front of them and we\u2019re looking for people that are going to help drive us forward. That\u2019s the biggest thing,\u201d explains Huska.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo if someone can raise their level this time of the year and show they can be a guy that\u2019s counted on and I\u2019m capable of handling more then, yeah, we want you to be a part of us moving forward, and I think you\u2019re starting to see certain players take off a little bit, and you\u2019re also starting to see some other players, maybe not take off.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zary knows he\u2019s one of those guys with much to prove and a real opportunity to cement his spot as part of the solution on a rebuilding team.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust trying to play my game,\u201d said Zary. \u201cGo out there and play fast, make plays, and be skilled and drive the net. I think that\u2019s what I do best and that\u2019s something I got to continue to do and be consistent at.\u201d<\/p>\n
The player Calgary brought in to replace Kadri, looking for a fresh start himself, was veteran centre Ryan Strome, who came over from the Anaheim Ducks.<\/p>\n
Zary has been playing alongside Strome lately and has enjoyed his time with the 32-year-old with over 900 NHL games on his resume.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve loved playing with him,\u201d said Zary. \u201cHe\u2019s always in a good spot and it\u2019s been easy for me to read off him and try and make plays.\u201d<\/p>\n
The two combined on a slick give-and-go that opened the scoring 2:34 into the game with Zary going forehand to backhand and tucking the puck inside the post.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re on the ice together at practice working on little skills and trying to find each other and know where each other are, so he\u2019s been a great help for me,\u201d said Zary. \u201cBeing able to play with him a few times here has been awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n
It looked like Zary had his second point later in the first period when he juggled the puck in the air a couple times with his stick before dishing the puck to Yegor Sharangovich who wired in a goal.<\/p>\n
However, for the second time in the period, Calgary had a goal waved off, this time for a missed stoppage as a St. Louis video challenge found that one of Zary\u2019s touches on that rush had come with a high stick.<\/p>\n
Waved-off goals was the theme of the night with the Flames having a third goal called back in the second period due to an offside.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve all been a part of a disallowed goal, but to have three straight? It was pretty nuts,\u201d said Zary.<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 18th, 2026<\/p>\n
Darren Haynes, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cFor the last two and a half months, you can take a few games and throw them out,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":547042,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194293],"tags":[49,2798,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-547041","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-calgary","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-calgary","10":"tag-canada"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=547041"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547041\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/547042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=547041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=547041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=547041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}