Sean Monahan scored his first goal of the season and goaltender Jacob Markstrom collected his second consecutive shutout to lead the host Calgary Flames to a 4-0 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday.
Matthew Tkachuk, Mikael Backlund and Johnny Gaudreau also scored for the Flames, who have won six straight games. Markstrom made 20 saves to earn his third shutout of the season and 11th of his career. Monahan, Elias Lindholm and Rasmus Andersson had two-point outings.
Markstrom is riding a shutout streak of 134 minutes and 35 seconds, and has stopped 126 of 127 shots in his last four games.
From a quantity perspective, it wasn't the most difficult game for Markstrom, but he made several quality saves, with the most important a late first-period stop on Cam Atkinson while the game was scoreless.
Flyers goalie Carter Hart gave his team every chance to win with a 32-save performance, but it wasn't enough.
After a scoreless first period, Monahan's power-play goal opened the scoring nine minutes into the second period. Monahan set up shop at the doorstep and perfectly redirected Andersson's pass for his first goal in 14 games.
Monahan's 62nd career power-play goal put him ahead of Lanny McDonald for seventh spot on the franchise's all-time list.
Tkachuk finally converted amidst a dominant game with 11:30 remaining in the second period. Tkachuk finished a pretty three-way passing play that included Monahan and Lindholm for his third goal of the season. It was Tkachuk's seventh shot on goal in the game.
Backlund added an empty-net goal with 3:49 remaining and Gaudreau converted a two-on-one rush with 1:59 left on the clock to round out the scoring and extend his point-scoring streak to seven games.
Philadelphia, which was the fifth highest scoring team in the league going into Saturday's action, had a horrible time generating chances, especially in the middle frame. When Monahan opened the scoring, shots in the period were 12-0 for the Flames. The Flyers, who needed nearly 13 minutes to test Markstrom in the second period, were outshot 16-5 in the frame.
--Field Level Media
Philadelphia | Calgary | |
N/A | Points | Sean Monahan 2 |
N/A | Goals | Sean Monahan 1 |
N/A | Assists | Rasmus Andersson 2 |
N/A | Power Play Goals | Sean Monahan 1 |
N/A | Short Handed Goals | N/A |
Carter Hart .914 | Save Percentage | Jacob Markstrom 1.000 |
Carter Hart 32 | Saves | Jacob Markstrom 20 |
Team | Shots | Goals | Power Play | Penalty Kill | Penalty Mins | Face Offs Won |
Philadelphia | 20 | 0 | 0-3 | 3-5 | 12 | 34 |
Calgary | 36 | 4 | 2-5 | 3-3 | 8 | 30 |