BIG WIN FOR FLAMES OVER HABS
Playoff hopes are still flickering
At their lowest points this season, the Calgary Flames have always pointed to their five remaining games against the Montreal Canadiens as proof that there was still hope they could make the playoffs.
On Wednesday, the Flames (19-21-3) played the first of five games in 11 days against the Habs (18-13-9) and came away with a convincing 4-1 win. They've still got a long way to go, but it's a start.
“It's huge,” said Flames defenceman Noah Hanifin, who scored the team's opening goal on a blistering shot from the blue line. “We have some ground to make up and that's the nice thing about playing in this division, you're going to get those head-tohead games where you can climb back in.
“This is the team we're chasing. We know how important these games are and it's definitely nice to start off this series with a win.”
The Flames will play the Canadiens again on Friday, and three more times before April
26. There's little room for error in the standings. Even with Wednesday's win, they're four points back of the Habs — who are sitting in the fourth and final playoff spot in the North Division — and have played three more games than their rivals from Montreal.
It's going to be an uphill battle. If you're the optimistic type, though, there are reasons to believe a dramatic late-season rise in the standings isn't impossible for the Flames.
Those reasons were on full display on Wednesday night.
Despite winning in overtime on Tuesday night against the Maple Leafs in Toronto, the Flames were the faster, more aggressive group against the Canadiens, outshooting the Habs 34-27.
Their penalty-kill was excellent, they got goals from defencemen Hanifin and Mark Giordano, and when the Habs bounced back with one from Brett Kulak, the Flames kept their calm and eventually regained their two-goal cushion through a nice third-period goal from Josh Leivo. Sean Monahan finished the job with an empty-netter.
Jacob Markstrom was solid in net for the third straight game, too. His struggles appear to be behind him.
It's enough to make you wonder whether the Flames might be able to make things interesting in the standings, if nothing else.
“You've got to start somewhere and obviously, so far, it hasn't been the season we wanted it to be,” Markstrom said. “But right now, the way we played today and the previous two games, I think we've been great with our forecheck (and) in the neutral zone.
“Special teams have been huge. The penalty-kill are blocking shots. They're playing really unselfish. It's huge for our team and for me, too, when our D is making as many saves as I do.”
Catching the Canadiens is still a gargantuan task and nobody should be saying otherwise.
But it's worth noting that the Flames are now 4-1 against the Canadiens this season.
Yes, the Flames need the Canadiens to lose some games if they're going to make up the ground they need to make the playoffs, but the Habs have lost five of their last seven games, while the Flames have won three straight.
A playoff push is still improbable, but a few more games like Wednesday's win over the Habs and it will begin to feel a lot more possible.
A LOT OF ACTION
Expect Markstrom to be in the net for the Flames a lot between now and the end of the season. Possibly every single game.
On Wednesday, Markstrom was rock solid for the third game in a row. Even after starring for the Flames against the Maple Leafs in Toronto on Tuesday night, Markstrom turned away 26-of-27 shots the Habs threw his way and picked up his thirdstraight.
With David Rittich dealt away at the deadline, head coach Darryl Sutter is set to lean on Markstrom hard during this final 13 games of the season.
“You look at our schedule and it's not that hard,” Sutter said. “Even if he did play every game, he'd still be the same as what he played last year. If you look at the minutes played and all that, that's not a big deal.”
For his part, it doesn't sound like Markstrom will have any complaints if that's how the rest of the season plays out.
“I love playing the game. There's nothing I love more than stepping on the ice with 20 other guys who want to win a hockey game,” Markstrom said.
“You want to win a hockey game and when you get a chance to play at this level it's a privilege that we get to play every other night and sometimes back-toback.
ICE CHIPS
By scoring the game-winner on Wednesday, Giordano wrote his name in the Flames history book — not for the first time. It was Giordano's 23rd career game-winning goal, which pushed him past Al Macinnis for the most among defencemen in Flames history. … There was a moment of real concern midway through the first period when Elias Lindholm collided in the neutral zone with the Habs' Joel Edmundson. Fortunately, Lindholm didn't miss a shift. … When Kulak scored for the Habs, it was his first goal since March 28, 2019. … Combined with the double-minor he took in the third period of Tuesday's game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, Rasmus Andersson's penalties in the first and second period against the Habs meant he accounted for eight straight minutes in the box for the Flames. … Johnny Gaudreau came extremely close to putting the game to bed with about eight minutes left in the third period when he capitalized on a turnover and took off on a breakaway, but Habs goaltender Jake Allen did a nice job turning him away. Fortunately for the Flames, Leivo buried their third of the night about a minute later.