{"id":239794,"date":"2026-03-27T21:16:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T21:16:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/239794\/"},"modified":"2026-03-27T21:16:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T21:16:16","slug":"growing-pains-continue-for-flames-parekh-as-ot-penalty-ends-win-streak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/239794\/","title":{"rendered":"Growing pains continue for Flames’ Parekh as OT penalty ends win streak"},"content":{"rendered":"

CALGARY \u2014 Ryan Huska wasn\u2019t interested in shielding his young defenceman by making excuses or downplaying the impact of Zayne Parekh<\/a>\u2019s late mistake.<\/p>\n

In a game Huska said was lost because of penalties, it was a too-many-men call in the final minute of overtime that ended the Flames\u2019 four-game winning streak.<\/p>\n

As the puck moved into the Ducks’ offensive zone, Parekh jumped over the boards a handful of Mississippis before Zach Whitecloud reached the Flames bench.<\/p>\n

The whistle blew quickly, and there was no argument from the bench, as everyone, including the 19-year-old, knew he\u2019d made a mistake.<\/p>\n

The Ducks made him pay with a power-play goal with one second left.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether you’re a young guy, old guy, the referees made the right call there,\u201d said a curt Huska, following a 3-2 loss.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a bad change.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked if it was something he needed to talk to the team’s top prospect about, Huska shrugged.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, that\u2019s talked about a lot,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were just warned. Both teams were just warned right before.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Flames didn\u2019t see fit to trot the youngster out after the game to fall on his sword, as he most certainly would have.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s a smart young man who understands, in the grand scheme of things, that moments like these are all part of the growing pains a first-year player is bound to endure.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s had his share of ’em this year, as part of a rookie season in which the club has only recently started to play him on a regular basis, playing regular minutes.<\/p>\n

Progress is being made, but moments like these can be put in the two steps forward, one step back category.<\/p>\n

This one was a mental lapse, as perhaps the excitement of joining the play in overtime got the better of a player who is hellbent on trying to prove he can be an offensive difference-maker at this level.<\/p>\n

After Mikael Granlund completed his hat trick with one tick left on the clock, Parekh spent a prolonged period of time in the penalty box, essentially licking his wounds.<\/p>\n

You can bet that once he reached the dressing room he was met with a steady stream of veterans trying to console him with a tap or quick word of support.<\/p>\n

The whole idea of icing a team with as many youngsters as the Flames have comes with an understanding that rookie mistakes will be made.<\/p>\n

This one cost them a point, which, ironically, will be appreciated by Flames fans who\u2019ve been cringing throughout the team\u2019s season-high five-game point streak.<\/p>\n

The Flames now sit fourth-last, moving one point ahead of Chicago.<\/p>\n

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Hockey fans already know the name, but this is not the blog. From Sportsnet, 32 Thoughts: The Podcast with NHL Insider Elliotte Friedman and Kyle Bukauskas is a weekly deep dive into the biggest news and interviews from the hockey world.<\/p>\n

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Two nights after Parekh scored his first of the season to send the game to overtime, he spent most of Thursday night against Anaheim absorbing hit after hit in a punishing, 17-minute outing that saw him get one shot on net, while blocking four shots.<\/p>\n

As far as encouraging signs, for the second game in a row, there he was, out on the ice in overtime, being trusted as part of a trio that included Matthew Coronato and Matvei Gridin, who scored earlier on.<\/p>\n

Three future pillars, being given significant responsibilities they wouldn\u2019t have had if the team were still in a playoff race.<\/p>\n

Given how his night ended, the optics of sitting him Saturday against Vancouver as part of load management would set the internet on fire.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll see if it comes to that.<\/p>\n

With 10 games remaining, there\u2019s no debate he needs to keep playing, building confidence, shouldering heavier loads, and learning to bounce back from nights like these.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CALGARY \u2014 Ryan Huska wasn\u2019t interested in shielding his young defenceman by making excuses or downplaying the impact…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":239795,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164],"class_list":["post-239794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239794"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239794\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/239795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}