The result is he’s turning on the red light at an encouraging clip.
With not a lot of positives in the first half of the Calgary Flames’ season, the offensive contributions of the smooth-skating blueliner — given the go-ahead to take some risks by head coach Bob Hartley — jump off the stats page at the Saddledome.
With a bit of assistance from Detroit Red Wings rearguard Jakub Kindl, who kicked his rebound into the net in the first period of Wednesday night’s meeting at the Saddledome, Bouwmeester tied his single-season high in a Flames uniform with his fifth goal of the shortened NHL season.
“I haven’t been trying to do anything different,” Bouwmeester said. “There’s been opportunities with the way we’ve been playing early in the season, and the attitude changes when it goes in a couple of times.
“Nobody was ever holding me back before, it just wasn’t there.”
