CANADIENS FALL FLAT
Battered 5-0 in Calgary
The Canadiens saw their six-game winning streak come to an end with a 5-0 loss to the Flames Thursday night at the Saddledome, while Carey Price stayed in the locker-room the whole time.
With Price — who has a personal five-game winning streak — sidelined by a flu bug, backup goalie Al Montoya got the call, but he doesn’t deserve the blame for this loss. The Canadiens came out flat and Montoya kept them in the game until almost the midway point of the second period when the wheels started to fall off for a team that still struggles to score goals and so often gets bailed out by Price.
The Flames extended their winning streak to eight games and have now earned points in 10 straight (9-0-1).
Sign of things to come: Montoya might have realized he was in for a tough night when the first two shots he faced were both good scoring chances in the first three minutes. Mark Giordano opened the scoring at 7:38 of the first period on the Flames’ fifth shot on a beautiful setup in the slot from Matthew Tkachuk that froze the defence pair of Alexei Emelin and Jeff Petry. Giordano was left alone to beat Montoya high to the glove side. The Flames outshot the Canadiens 16-5 in the first period.
The downfall begins: Montoya stopped the next 15 shots he faced after the first goal before Michael Stone scored at 8:36 of the second period on a deflection while screening the goalie. Montoya would later be beaten by Sean Monahan at 15:28 and Micheal Ferland at 15:54. The Flames headed into the second intermission up 4-0 on the scoreboard and 27-16 on the shot clock.
Fight Night: There were two fights during the second period as the Canadiens’ Paul Byron squared off with Kris Versteeg at 5:40 in a lightweight version of Rock ’em, Sock ’em Robots with both throwing punches wildly in what could be scored a draw. The Canadiens’ Steve Ott and Matt Bartkowski had a heavyweight battle at 11:09 that was more like a wrestling match.
Protecting the lead: With the game out of reach, the Flames did a solid job of protecting their lead in the third period while the Canadiens didn’t put up much of a fight. Montoya stopped Mikael Backlund on a short-handed breakaway with less than seven minutes left before Johnny Gaudreau made it 5-0 at the 16:12 mark to cap off a four-point night. The final shots on goal were 38-24 for the Flames.
Emelin gets back in lineup: After being a healthy scratch for Tuesday night’s 2-1 OT win in Vancouver, Emelin got back in the Canadiens’ lineup in place of Brandon Davidson. Emelin finished the night minus-3. Alexander Radulov (lower-body injury), Tomas Plekanec and Brian Flynn (both upper body) didn’t play, opening a spot for Mike McCarron on a big fourth line of six-footers with Steve Ott and Andreas Martinsen.
What’s next: The Canadiens flew to Edmonton after the game and have a scheduled day off Friday. They will wrap up their Western Canada road trip against the Oilers Sunday night (7 p.m., SN, RDS, TSN Radio 690). The Chicago Blackhawks visit the Bell Centre Tuesday night.