A pair of teams battling for their playoff lives clashed on Saturday night at the Scotiabank Saddledome. The Calgary Flames and Montreal Canadiens faced off, with each team just outside of a playoff spot. It was a low-scoring, tight-checking game with strong goaltending at both ends of the ice.

The Flames blanked the Canadiens by a 1-0 score.

(Alternate title: Bleu, blanc et rouge blanked by Flames.)

Neither team scored in the first period, but the Flames had a ton of good chances and Montreal netminder Jakub Dobes had to be sharp.

First period shots were 9-4 Flames. Via Natural Stat Trick, five-on-five scoring chances were 6-0 Flames (high-danger chances were 2-0 Flames).

The second period was more balanced, with Montreal responding well to their start by pushing back and controlling big chunks of the middle frame. The Flames also made adjustments and also had some stretches of control.

Near the end of the second period, with 3:39 left on the clock, the Flames opened the scoring. The Flames had a nice cycle shift where they hemmed in Montreal in their own zone, but a Mikael Backlund shot went off Owen Beck and out of the zone. Undeterred, the Flames got back into the zone, where Backlund fed Joel Farabee at the face-off dot to Dobes’ left. Farabee fired a shot past Dobes (with Blake Coleman planting a partial screen) to give the Flames a 1-0 lead.

Montreal pushed back after that goal, but the Flames headed into the intermission with a lead.

Second period shots were 12-10 Canadiens. Five-on-five scoring chances were 7-7 (high-danger chances were 3-3).

The third period was more of the same. The Flames defended well and got some chances here and there. Montreal arguably got higher quality chances than the Flames did, but Dustin Wolf stood tall when called upon.

The Canadiens pulled Dobes for the extra attacker with 2:36 remaining in regulation and pressed for the equalizer. But the Flames held on for the 1-0 victory.

Third period shots were 10-5 Canadiens. Five-on-five-scoring chances were 7-4 Canadiens (high-danger chances were 4-1 Canadiens).

Was this a picturesque example of ice hockey? Not really. Both teams’ goalies were really good, but the game featured quite a few miscues, mistakes and foibles for both hockey clubs. But give credit where credit is due: the Flames came into this one knowing how they need to play, and it was in their best interest to get the Habs playing their preferred style of game.

For the most part, the Flames succeeded, and they managed to get slightly more saves and display slightly better execution with the puck than the visitors.

Jakub Dobes was really sharp in the Montreal net and allowed just a single goal. His counterpart at the other end of the ice, Dustin Wolf, managed to out-do him.

Replace #32 in red with a less-capable netminder, and this is a much different hockey game. (Respectfully, though, replace #75 for the visitors with a lesser goalie and this game isn’t nearly as close as it was.)

We’re going to go with the final 2:36 of regulation. The Canadiens had their goalie pulled and did their best to generate chances, but the Flames did a good job allowing their netminder to his thing and try to clutter up passing lanes.

During the first period, there was an in-arena salute to Blake Coleman, as he reached the 600 NHL games milestone during the road trip.

The Flames (30-23-10) return to action on Wednesday night when they host the Vancouver Canucks in a game with massive playoff implications.

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