Flames defenceman Chris Tanev fearlessly blocks shot with his face
The Calgary Flames put everything on the line to earn a hard-fought 2-1 overtime victory over the Vegas Golden Knights.
The best example of this came with less than 10 minutes remaining in the third period, when Chris Tanev blocked a shot with his face on a great scoring opportunity off the stick of William Karlsson. The gritty Flames defenceman went down in a heap but was able to almost immediately get back onto his feet and skate off the ice before heading down the tunnel.
This was a scary situation and one that was clearly painful upon seeing the replay. While it had to have done some damage to the 33-year-old, it appears he avoided anything major based on some post-game comments made by head coach Ryan Huska.
“He’s moving around, he’s fine in that regard,” Huska told reporters. “I don’t have anything in regards to a timeline.”
It remains to be seen whether or not Tanev will be good to go on Thursday when the Flames welcome the Dallas Stars to town.
As Flames fans have come to know over the last three seasons, this type of effort is nothing new for Tanev. He is a player who puts his body on the line each and every night, and often plays through a ton of injuries. Despite often playing banged up, he remains one of the game’s best shutdown defencemen, and has been nothing short of excellent since signing a four-year deal with the Flames during the 2020 offseason.
Given that Tanev is in the final year of his contract, he has been involved in plenty of trade rumours as of late. While nobody wants to see what happened to him last night, it is a good reminder for any general managers out there of just how badly this player wants to win games. If he does indeed get moved at or prior to the trade deadline, he will make for an excellent acquisition for whichever team grabs him.
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