Versteeg connects in SO to lift Flames over Blackhawks
Gallagher, Price lead Canadiens past Flyers 3-1
CHICAGO, Oct 25, (AP): Kris Versteeg got a big shootout goal against his old team. Brian Elliott finally got his first win with his new one.
Versteeg scored the lone goal in the tiebreaker in the seventh round to give the Calgary Flames a 3-2 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Monday night and just their second victory this season.
Versteeg, who won Stanley Cups with the Blackhawks in 2010 and 2015, faked Corey Crawford, pulled to a stop while dragging the puck and then fired a wrist shot into a wide-open net.
Elliott made 31 saves through overtime and blocked all seven in the shootout to win for the first time with Calgary after three losses. Acquired from St. Louis in June, Elliott had allowed 14 goals in his first three starts for the Flames.
Elliott was at his best with the game tied at 2 late in the third and in overtime, when Chicago had a power play and outshot Calgary 6-1. He made two point-blank saves on Richard Panik in the final three minutes of regulation, including a toe save from the edge of the crease as time ran out.
Sam Bennett and Sean Monahan scored in regulation for Calgary, which snapped a two-game losing streak.
Patrick Kane and Brian Campbell connected in regulation for Chicago.
Campbell’s goal, his first with the Blackhawks since rejoining them as a free agent in the offseason, tied it 2-all at 4:12 of the third. Campbell’s feed from the right circle, intended for Artem Anisimov, deflected in off Calgary defenseman T.J. Brodie.
Crawford blocked 29 shots through overtime and made several close in saves early to keep it close.
The Blackhawks’ sputtering penalty killers permitted two power-play goals in five chances to the Flames, who entered the game having scored just once in 25 opportunities with the man advantage. Chicago has allowed 14 goals in 26 short-handed situations this season and at least one power-play goal in each of its seven games.
Canadiens 3, Flyers 1 In Montreal, Michel Therrien liked what he saw from the Montreal Canadiens’ power play. He is still going to keep tinkering with it.
Looking to jump start Montreal’s stalled power play, Therrien shuffled some players around and that was the difference as the Canadiens beat the Philadelphia Flyers 3-1 on Monday night to extend their winning streak to four games. First-place Montreal (5-0-1) remains the only NHL team unbeaten in regulation time.
The main change was putting forward Alexander Radulov on the point with Shea Weber on Montreal’s first power play. That strategy paid dividends in the third period when Brendan Gallagher tipped Radulov’s shot from the point past Steve Mason at 13:08 to break a 1-1 tie.
Therrien felt a change was necessary as the Canadiens came into the game 3 for 21 with the man advantage, 20th in the NHL.
The experiment looked to have backfired though as Montreal went 0 for 3 with the man advantage to start the game. But Gallagher needed just four seconds into the team’s fourth opportunity of the night to deflect Radulov’s shot into the net.
Radulov finished with an emptynet goal, two assists, five hits, and he drew a penalty in the second period.
Radulov got an assist on Montreal’s first goal. Weber put Montreal on the board at 5:28 of the second period with his second goal of the season.
After good work behind the net by Radulov to get the puck back to the point, Weber fired a slap shot that broke Brayden Schenn’s stick and deflected into the net.
Carey Price made 31 saves in his third consecutive win to start the season.
After Weber’s goal, the Flyers (23-1) tied it in the second period when Jakub Voracek deflected Giroux’s shot past Price at 11:47. The goal came just seconds after Price denied Voracek all alone in front of goal.
Voracek has three goals in six games this season.