Rasmus Andersson wasn’t sure he was going to be able to stare down a fan at the Saddledome.
His first two goals this season have come on the road and he responded by immediately staring down Vancouver Canucks and Edmonton Oilers fans.
He wasn’t going to do the same after scoring against the Pittsburgh Penguins, though. What’s the point of casting a vicious glare at one of your own fans?
Then, well …
“(Ryan Lomberg) came up to me and said ‘Let’s score a goal and stare someone down’ and I said ‘I can’t stare anyone down on home ice’ but as soon as I scored I saw something yellow and he was in my way,” Andersson explained of his viral glare at a front-row Pens fan.
The staredowns are becoming a patented part of Andersson’s post-goal celebrations and, with three goals in six games, they’re happening a lot.
And goals from the backend are a big part of the reason why the Flames are sitting atop the Pacific Division with a 5-0-1 record after six games.
MacKenzie Weegar also scored his third goal on the season in the third period of Tuesday’s 4-3 win over the Penguins and the two blueliners now have combined for six goals on the season.
No other team in the NHL has a pair of defencemen who have combined for as many.
The two are also leading the Flames in ice-time, with Andersson playing 23:48 per game and Weegar skating for 22:47, and are spending substantial time on both the power play and penalty kill.
They’re productive, plain and simple, and with the departures of Noah Hanifin, Chris Tanev and Nikita Zadorov, they’ve taken on major leadership duties on the ice and in the locker room, too.
It seems to be bringing out the best in both.
“For Ras and I right now, we’ve been kind of waiting for this moment to kind of be the leaders back there,” Weegar said. “We want that role and I think we’ve done a great job so far with the D-corps. Obviously, everybody’s been great, all six-to-eight of us back there every right.
“I think Ras has done a great job of leading, I think he wants that role. I think he waited a long time to have that letter and contribute like that. We like the opportunity.”
The way Andersson and Weegar are leading the upstart Flames goes well beyond just scoring — although they’re obviously doing a lot of that.
They’re also doing the hard work. Andersson is leading the Flames in blocked shots with 23. Weegar is second with 15 and his 17 hits is second-most on the team behind Martin Pospisil.
There’s a lot that has gone right for the Flames during their hot start, but the leadership the two defencemen are demonstrating is a big part of the explanation for why the team come out of the gates flying.
“I remember when (Mark Giordano, Dougie Hamilton at T.J. Brodie) were here, it’s the guys you looked up to,” Andersson said. “Both me and (Weegar) are trying to set a good example. If we block shots or join the rush or we hit someone, and Weegsy’s more of a hitter than I am but we’re both pretty good at eating pucks, and if we can do it, all of us can do it.
“We both try to lead by example and are both pretty vocal guys in the room, too. It’s nice to have that confidence and the ability to do it, too, but it’s a long season and it starts with the two of us in the back end. If we’re not doing the job we can’t demand that anyone else do the job, either, so it falls back on us.”
Both Weegar and Andersson definitely are playing with confidence and leading by example but, without oversimplifying it too much, they’re also just playing at a really high level.
On Hockey Night in Canada this past weekend, there was a lengthy debate about whether Weegar might wind up on the Canadian blueline at the Four Nations Face-Off Tournament in February. He wasn’t part of that conversation 18 months ago.
And Andersson surely will be part of the Swedish setup at the tournament. His play all but guarantees it.
“It’s an elite level right now, you can see it,” Weegar said of Andersson. “He’s playing with a great pace, too, but I think he’s done a great job leading the way back there. Every single night when we’ve needed him to step up and score a big goal or make a big play or block a big shot, he’s done that for us.
“I don’t know what defenceman, I haven’t really looked at the stats, but in the league right now I don’t think anybody’s near where he’s at. He’s pretty elite right now and he’s gotta keep that going for us, we need him.”
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