Cowboy Up: Fun Flames Trio Bolstered by Wranglers AHL Connection

For Rory Kerins and Jakob Pelletier, teaming up together with the Calgary Flames after spending much of the year with the Calgary Wranglers has been a minor adjustment.

They're having major impact.

Flanking a slightly more veteran Yegor Sharangovich, the two Flames prospects have helped the offense remain relatively efficient in Connor Zary's absence, and amid a bit of a slump for Jonathan Huberdeau and Nazem Kadri.

The veteran scoring leaders have both gone scoreless in the past four games, with the only point coming on a Huberdeau assist. Zary is out indefinitely with a knee injury he suffered in Anaheim on January 7, leading to Kerins' promotion to the NHL for the first time.

Kerins had an impressive debut, clicking with Pelletier immediately and finishing with a pair of assists in his first NHL contest. Helping the Flames past the Chicago Blackhawks 5-2 on the night, Pelletier had two goals and a helper — his first multi-goal game in the big league.

Considering the duo was effective on the Wranglers' top line over the first couple of months this season, it's not entirely surprising they've been able to translate that success after their promotions.

That included a huge 3-1 win over the Western Conference's best team, the Winnipeg Jets, on the road on Saturday.

"It’s kinda similar to the Wranglers, to be honest. I think we kinda know where the other is going to be before we go there," Pelletier said after their first NHL game together.

Kerins has since run that to four points — all assists — over his first four games as a member of the Calgary Flames.

"We played together on the same line for about 25 games, 30 games," Kerins told travelling members of the media after the Blackhawks game. "We were pretty good down there together."

They're pretty good up here, too. And Sharangovich seems to be playing with more pep as well after struggling to find any offensive consistency all season long.

The next-cowboy-up approach could have been a killer for a Flames club in transition. Losing a talented young player like Zary could have deflated the team. Instead, they're finding more promising young members of the future are capable of making an impact.

Cowboy up. Maybe not a bad moniker for the Kerins-Sharangovich-Pelletier line with the 22-year-old Kerins and 23-year-old Pelletier getting their NHL chances because of serious injuries to the likes of Zary, Anthony Mantha and Justin Kirkland this year.

Their success has offered arguably the deepest and most dangerous top nine we've seen in recent years with fellow building piece Matt Coronato thriving beside Mikael Backlund and Blake Coleman, and Kadri and Huberdeau combining for some deadly offensive chances so far this season.