GET TICKETS<\/a><\/p>\nIf the Flames’ recent schedule has had a ‘Murderer’s Row’ feel to it of late, it’s for good reason. Carolina becomes the fifth straight opponent on Calgary’s schedule to have reached at least the second round of last year’s playoffs, and for the second straight game, the Flames will face one of last spring’s two Conference champions.<\/p>\n
But these games – against the best the league has to offer – are the type of games that competitors live for. A chance to prove one’s mettle, to be hunters against the hunted.<\/p>\n
Forward Adam Klapka is one of those competitors, and so far this season, he’s put in the work. The big Czech winger enters Sunday’s game with two goals on the season and, as of Saturday evening, a league-leading 32 penalty minutes.<\/p>\n
But when asked about his early-season impact Saturday, Klapka pointed away from the numbers game, choosing instead to focus on one intangible: consistency.<\/p>\n
“The big thing for me coming into the season was to play (consistently). That was the number-one thing,” Klapka said. “Last year, there was a stretch of games where I was playing well, but there was a stretch of games where I didn\u2019t really do anything.<\/p>\n
“That was a big thing for me, and that was the message from the coach too. That\u2019s my focus right now.”<\/p>\n
Reading game situations is another area Klapka is focusing on, too. Knowing when to try a dangle like the one he executed beautifully for his toe-drag goal last week against the Avalanche. Knowing too, when to mix it up, as the 6-foot-8 forward is certainly capable of.<\/p>\n
One (giant) step at a time, he’s trying to make himself indispensable.<\/p>\n
And he’s learning to keep a short memory, too.<\/p>\n
“When the game is done, I just sweep it (aside), just focus for the next one,” Klapka explained. “During the game, I just go shift by shift, and don\u2019t really think about what was in the past, or what is going to be in the future.<\/p>\n
“Just live (in) the moment.”<\/p>\n
That mentality will serve Klapka and his mates well, particularly in the midst of a difficult start to the 2026-27 campaign.<\/p>\n
But should the Flames need a spark – a rallying cry – as this four-game homestand begins, Klapka might just be the guy to deliver it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"1. Homestandin’ Four straight games, and five of the next six, inside the friendly confines of the Scotiabank…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":937795,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194293],"tags":[49,2798,48],"class_list":["post-937794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-calgary","tag-ca","tag-calgary","tag-canada"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/937794","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=937794"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/937794\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/937795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=937794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=937794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=937794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}