On Saturday night in Montreal’s Bell Centre, the Calgary Flames spotted themselves a 1-0 lead. Then, they hung on for dear life as goaltender Jacob Markstrom stood on his head to maintain that lead. The Flames were extremely fortunate to escape Quebec with two points after Markstrom made 37 saves in a 2-0 shutout victory.
The rundown
For the first time in a few games, the Flames scored first! After Sam Bennett drew a penalty hustling from the puck, Johnny Gaudreau score a really pretty power play goal. He corralled a deflected pass, waited for Jake Allen to commit, then shelved a shot past the Habs netminder to give the Flames a 1-0 lead.
Snipe city. pic.twitter.com/sqVZ8A6nMU
— Calgary Flames (@NHLFlames) January 31, 2021
Shots were 16-12 Flames and scoring chances 15-10 Canadiens in the first period.
Nobody scored in second period, but the two teams combined for six power plays and just 7:09 of five-on-five time. The Habs were all over the Flames for long stretches, including looking very dangerous on special teams.
The Flames highlights were a pair of painful-looking shot blocks on Shea Weber blasts – Juuso Valimaki off his hand/wrist area and Joakim Nordstrom off his skate – and a high Dillon Dube hit that’ll get some attention from the NHL’s Department of Player Safety.
Dillon Dube with a big hit on Jesperi Kotknaiemi.
Kotknaiemi didn't see this coming at all, and Dube catches him pretty high.
No call on the play. And Flames get a PP with Weber in the box for roughing. pic.twitter.com/lc7JGvL27H
— Hailey Salvian (@hailey_salvian) January 31, 2021
Shots were 15-5 Canadiens and scoring chances 8-0 Canadiens in the second period.
The Habs pressed in the third period, but the Flames hung in there. Mikael Backlund added an empty-netter late in the period to cement a 2-0 win.
Shots were 12-10 Flames and scoring chances 13-9 Canadiens in the third period.
Why the Flames won
They had a better start than they did on Thursday, and then their goaltending was great as they clung on for dear life. When they’re allowed to go places and do things again, every player in a red and white sweater owes Markstrom a meal.
They were more crisp and engaged than they were on Thursday, for sure, but this was a Goalie Win.
Red Warrior
Markstrom. Replace him with any other goaltender and the scoreboard would’ve looked a lot different.
The turning point
Take your pick from any number of calm Markstrom saves in a very one-sided second period.
The numbers
Data via Natural Stat Trick. Percentage stats are 5v5.
Corsi For% | O-Zone Face-Off% | Game Score | |
Lucic | 66.7 | 83.3 | -0.495 |
Nordstrom | 64.3 | 75.0 | -0.395 |
Ryan | 61.1 | 75.0 | -0.693 |
Tanev | 53.3 | 47.1 | 0.304 |
Backlund | 52.0 | 27.3 | 0.273 |
Hanifin | 48.2 | 38.5 | 0.931 |
Leivo | 45.5 | 14.3 | -1.203 |
Valimaki | 41.7 | 100 | -0.720 |
Bennett | 41.7 | 12.5 | 0.307 |
Mangiapane | 41.2 | 87.5 | -1.057 |
Giordano | 36.4 | 22.2 | -1.440 |
Andersson | 34.4 | 20.0 | -1.256 |
Gaudreau | 32.4 | 62.5 | -0.116 |
Nesterov | 32.3 | 100 | -1.395 |
Monahan | 32.1 | 62.5 | -0.206 |
Dube | 23.1 | 16.7 | -0.915 |
Tkachuk | 17.7 | 14.3 | 0.888 |
Lindholm | 14.3 | 14.3 | 1.096 |
Markstrom | — | — | 3.500 |
Rittich | — | — | — |
This and that
With his 1-0 goal, Johnny Gaudreau is the first Flames player with a 7-game point streak to begin a season since Jiri Hudler in 2013-14#CofRed
— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) January 31, 2021
Three Flames experienced big milestones:
- Matthew Tkachuk’s 300th NHL game
- Mark Giordano’s 900th NHL game
- Assistant equipment manager Corey Osmak’s 1,500th pro game
Up next
The Flames (3-3-1) are off to Winnipeg! They play three games in four nights in the ‘Peg starting Monday evening.
