Markstrom, Flames shut down Flyers
CALGARY, ALBERTA — Sean Monahan has no complaints over his reduced role this season as the Calgary Flames rattle off wins.
Monahan had a goal and an assist and Jacob Markstrom made 20 saves as the Calgary Flames blanked the Philadelphia Flyers 4-0 Saturday night for their sixth straight win.
Matthew Tkachuk, Johnny Gaudreau and Mikael Backlund (empty net) also scored for Calgary (6-1-1).
While centering Calgary’s fourth line with veteran wingers Milan Lucic and Trevor Lewis has been a major change for Monahan, the Flames’ third-highest paid player at $6.3 million has remained on the team’s top power-play unit. Against the Flyers, that’s where he did his damage, scoring the eventual winner and setting up Tkachuk’s insurance goal in the third.
“It’s a team game and when you’re part of a team, you’ve got to accept your role and do the best job you can,” said Monahan, a three-time 30-goal scorer. “We’ve got a good team, we’re winning games, and I have no complaints.”
Coach Darryl Sutter is pleased with the way Monahan has handled his role with the club.
“He’s been awesome,” Sutter said. “He’s got a great attitude and works hard. I’ve said it many times including in the dressing room, we’re not a top-heavy lineup. We’ve got to spread it out and have everybody accept their role and then go from there.”
The Flames were coming off a five-game road trip in which they never trailed and won all games by a combined score of 21-7.
“It’s a good start. We’re in a good position so far, but I don’t think anyone is happy,” Markstrom said. “Everybody that was here last year remembers that sour taste of last season. It was not fun at all. Especially not winning hockey games. So everybody’s hungry.”
Coming off a 45-save shutout over Pittsburgh on Thursday, Markstrom earned his third shutout in his last four starts. The 31-year-old Swede improved to 4-1-1 with a .957 save percentage.
“The other night was more physical, but, mentally you were in it. You had a lot of shots and you can see a lot of pucks and you get to feel the puck,” Markstrom said. “Today was more mental. Just stay really focused and don’t get derailed. Watch
our guys play a great game in front of me.”
Carter Hart made 32 saves for Philadelphia (4-2-1). Claude Giroux was held pointless for the first time this season and his six-game point streak ended.
“It’s disappointing when the team puts an effort like that in front of (Hart) when realistically he’s the only reason it ended up the score it was. He made some unbelievable saves,” Flyers center Travis Konecny said.
The Flyers dropped the final game of their Western Canada road trip after picking up wins in Edmonton and Vancouver.
“You’ve got to give credit to where credit is due. They’re playing an extremely tight-checking hockey game where there’s not a lot of room on the ice,” Flyers coach Alain Vigneault said. “When the team plays that way, you’ve got to make plays offensively. Your execution has got to be at its best and obviously they took that away from us tonight. They made it very difficult.”