Flames at Canadiens
The Calgary Flames came out on top in a spirited Battle of Alberta encounter on Saturday and look to extend their winning streak to six when they begin a three-game trip Monday night against the Montreal Canadiens. The Flames rallied twice to tie the game and got the winner early in the third period from Elias Lindholm on the power play for a 4-3 win over Edmonton to climb to first place in the Pacific Division, at least for a night.
“It was a good game. There were a lot of emotions, more like a (playoff) game,” Lindholm told reporters after scoring his team-leading 20th goal. “It was a fun game to play in and that was a huge win for us and now we have to keep building.” Calgary won for the seventh time in 10 games since losing for the fourth straight time to Montreal in the series as Max Domi scored in overtime for a 4-3 victory on Dec. 19 at the Scotiabank Saddledome. The Canadiens have won just twice in 11 contests (2-8-1) since knocking off the Flames, but snapped an eight-game losing streak Saturday as newcomer Ilya Kovalchuk scored the winning goal in overtime for a 2-1 triumph at Ottawa. “The first win after that many losses is never an easy one,” Montreal coach Claude Julien told reporters after getting 41 saves from Carey Price on Saturday. “We’ll take it and hopefully we’ll build from that.”
TIME: 7 p.m. ET. TV: TSN2, Sportsnet West, RDS
ABOUT THE FLAMES (25-17-5): NHL Player Safety announced left wing Matthew Tkachuk, who shares the team lead with 38 points, will not receive any supplemental discipline for a series of hits Saturday that eventually caused Oilers forward Zack Kassian to attack him. Tkachuk collected three assists in the last three games while left wing Johnny Gaudreau has goals in the past two and eight of his 38 points in the past six contests. Goalie Cam Talbot (7-7-0) has started three straight games in net, owns four consecutive victories and boasts a .940 save percentage in his past nine appearances between the pipes.
ABOUT THE CANADIENS (19-20-7): Kovalchuk has a goal and three assists in four games with Montreal since signing as a free agent last week, after managing nine in 17 contests with Los Angeles before his contract was terminated. “He’s been the ultimate pro,” Julien told reporters. “. … He’s respectful of his shift lengths, he’s respectful of how we want to play, so the guys look at a guy who’s been around for a long time, buying in. And he’s an easy guy to like.” Price (17-16-4) snapped a six-game losing streak with Saturday’s triumph and is 8-5-1 with a .914 SP in 14 career games (13 starts) against Calgary.
OVERTIME
1. Montreal LW Tomas Tatar has four assists in his last four games and leads the team with 39 points.
2. Calgary C Sean Monahan posted assists in the last two games and needs one point to reach 400 in his career.
3. Canadiens RW Brendan Gallagher (concussion) returned after a four-game absence Tuesday against Edmonton, but sat out again Saturday.