Calgary 5, Minnesota 1
When: 10:00 PM ET, Wednesday, February 1, 2017
Where: Scotiabank Saddledome, Calgary, Alberta
Referees:
Ghislain Hebert, Dean Morton
Linesmen:
Kiel Murchison, Mark Wheler
Attendance:
18044
By The Sports Xchange
CALGARY, Alberta -- The Calgary Flames continue to have an answer for the best team in their conference, the Minnesota Wild.
Sean Monahan scored two power-play goals and Brian Elliott made 28 saves and the Flames bounced the Wild 5-1 on Wednesday.
"That was a team game starting with Moose (Elliott) in the back. He kept us in there and everybody stepped up and played their role and that was a big win for us," said Monahan, who has eight goals in his past nine games.
Alex Chiasson, Deryk Engelland and Micheal Ferland also scored for Calgary (26-24-3), which won its second straight.
Jason Zucker replied for the Western Conference-leading Wild (33-12-5), who saw their franchise record road point streak end at 14 games.
The Flames are in wild-card position, leading St. Louis by two points but the Blues, who fired coach Ken Hitchcock on Wednesday, have three games in hand.
The Wild still have the NHL's best road record of 16-6-5 and are three points back of the Washington Capitals in the overall standings.
"They played better than us," Minnesota head coach Bruce Boudreau said of Calgary.
"I thought going into the third period we still had a shot at it, but they came out strong in the third, which is usually a forte of ours and we didn't get it done."
The Flames have now gotten back-to-back strong starts from Elliott, who has struggled in his first season in Calgary after coming over from St. Louis in a summer-time trade. He had nine wins in 24 games coming in to the night with a 2.88 goals-against-average and unseemly .892 save percentage but beat Ottawa right before the All-star break and then was solid against the Wild.
"(Minnesota is) a team that puts a lot of pucks on net, really comes with a lot of speed. Our guys did a really good job of letting me see things and tying up sticks so there's no tip-ins and stuff like that. Credit to the guys in front for sure," Elliott said.
Two quick goals by Monahan and Engelland in the third period were decisive. Monahan's wrist shot through a screen at 6:19 of the third period gave Calgary a 3-1 advantage and Engelland followed with his goal 1:13 later when his wrister from the point got through a crowd in the crease.
Ferland kept the puck on a two-on-one and scored to Devan Dubnyk's glove side with 6:13 left. Dubnyk had 31 saves.
It was Dubnyk's first start since the All-Star break. His league-leading 1.88 goals-against-average was eclipsed by the Flames before the first period was half over.
"Tonight was not how we wanted to play," said Dubnyk, who grew up in Calgary. "We knew they were going to come in strong and they did that. We put ourselves in a position to come back in the third period and that's certainly not how we've been playing third periods when it's a one-goal hockey game. That's not going to get it done.
"We've just got to understand why it didn't work tonight. We're all mature enough in here to know and we'll be back to the way we're playing next game."
Monahan is now two goals away from reaching 100 for his career and he will reach that milestone at the tender age of 22, having played 290 NHL games, as of Wednesday.
"When you play with good players you get a lot of opportunities," he said. "Sometimes good things happen. Right now I'm getting some good looks and I'm going to try and continue to work hard and be there for the team."
Chiasson benefited from being stationed in front of the Minnesota goal and Sam Bennett's shot hit him in the midsection and found the net to open the scoring at 4:26.
Monahan made it 2-0 on the power play at 8:09 as he knocked in Johnny Gaudreau's rebound.
Zucker finished off a two-on-one with Mikael Granlund with 12:40 gone in the second period to cut the deficit in half.
NOTES: The Wild traded minor league RW Marc Hagel to the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday. Hagel played 192 games with AHL Iowa but has not seen any action in the NHL. ... Out with injuries for Minnesota were D Vic Bartley (arm) and D Jonas Brodin (fractured finger). ... Flames D Brett Kulak was originally scheduled to play Wednesday but was a late scratch because of illness. Jyrki Jokipakka took his place. C Freddie Hamilton was also scratched. ... Calgary's lone injured player is RW Garnet Hathaway (upper body). ... The Flames play eight of their next 10 games on the road and 13 of 17 games against the Eastern Conference beginning Friday in New Jersey. ... The Wild's 71 points through their first 49 games were the most by any Minnesota-based team in NHL history. The previous best was 58 points in 2002-03.
Top Game Performances
Minnesota |
|
Calgary |
Jason Zucker 1 |
Points |
Sean Monahan 2 |
Jason Zucker 1 |
Goals |
Sean Monahan 2 |
Mikael Granlund 1 |
Assists |
Deryk Engelland 1 |
N/A |
Power Play Goals |
Sean Monahan 2 |
N/A |
Short Handed Goals |
N/A |
Devan Dubnyk .861 |
Save Percentage |
Brian Elliott .966 |
Devan Dubnyk 31 |
Saves |
Brian Elliott 28 |
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Shots |
Goals |
Power Play |
Penalty Kill |
Penalty Mins |
Face Offs Won |
Minnesota
|
29 |
1 |
0-3 |
2-4 |
10 |
37 |
Calgary
|
36 |
5 |
2-4 |
3-3 |
8 |
25 |
Upcoming Games
-
Calgary will play their next game on the road against New Jersey. The Flames have a W/L % of .480 after a win and .500 after a loss.
-
Minnesota will play their next game on the road against Vancouver. The Wild have a W/L % of .647 after a win and .688 after a loss.