New goalie stands tall in scrimmage

I t was nearly impossible to miss Henrik Karlsson(notes).
First off, there's the netminder's incredible size—six foot six.
Then, pleasingly to nearly everyone down at the Max Bell Centre, there had been those spectacular stops in the Calgary Flames' annual intrasquad showdown Monday afternoon.
"Well, he made four or five pretty big saves there," said Flames coach Brent Sutter.
"And you expected there to be some quality scoring chances. nfl throwback jerseys
I thought he had a good day."
Karlsson gleefully ruined Curtis Glencross's(notes) short-handed breakaway with a snazzy trapper save. He stoned Ian White(notes) with a right-pad save, then used his left pad to foil Alex Tanguay(notes).
"It was just a couple of bounces. It was fun to play," said the 26-year-old, who allowed only one goal—a tap-in by Jay Bouwmeester(notes).
"I was just trying to go out there and play my game as good as I could. But I think there's a couple things I can take with me that were working pretty good … and a couple things that maybe I have to work on.
"But overall, I'm pretty happy with the performance."
With the Flames and the Vancouver Canucks running split squads, Karlsson figures to get into National Hockey League action tonight at Rogers Arena.
"It's going to be a real great experience for me," said Karlsson. "I'm looking forward to it—my first game."
Karlsson was property of the San Jose Sharks last winter. He San Francisco 49ers jersey
didn't attend their training camp—"They signed me pretty late (Aug. 12, 2009), so I couldn't go there"—and spent the entire winter in the Swedish Elite League.
However, he did serve as a black ace during the team's playoff run.
Now, after an off-season trade to Calgary and subsequent one-way contract, he's inked in as Miikka Kiprusoff's(notes) backup.
"I like the pressure … to know that I have to prove myself here," said Karlsson.
"I'm just going to do my best, keep my focus, in every practice and game. Just do my best.
"The play is a little different here. Smaller rink. A lot of pucks on net, guys on net, but so far, I like it."
Karlsson was hardly the only chap under the microscope in Monday's matinee.
"I looked at the way guys responded under pressure and how they were handling the puck, seeing plays and making plays, looking at some system stuff that we've changed… . I thought everyone looked fine," said Sutter.
"It was good. The purpose of it was to get the guys the opportunity to play in some game-like situations, to work on a few things with our systems, to try some different things.
"I thought it was good for all those points."
At the top of Sutter's wish-list right now is team speed.
Brisk counter-attacking, swift forechecking, hot pursuit—all of Buffalo Bills jersey
it would go a long way to bolstering a club that struggled mightily to score last winter.
"It's just doing it all at a high tempo," said Sutter.
"We don't want to slow the game down. We want to be a quicker team this year, both at even strength and on specialty teams. To do that, you have to move your feet, you have to skate. That's something that we've been emphasizing since Day 1—being a quicker team.
"We want to be a team that's moving. You have to be able to play that way now."