Ground Zero: Markstrom blanks old team in style

It was always going to be strange to see Jacob Markstrom wearing Calgary Flames red.

It wasn't a surprise that the Canucks' former No. 1 goalie put in a dominant performance in his first game against his old mates. Markstrom made 32 saves and posted a 3-0 shutout leading the Flames to a win over the Vancouver Canucks Saturday night at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary.

The Flames made life pretty easy for their new netminder, as the Canucks struggled to generate much offence from the middle of the ice.

The Canucks, for their part, played a pretty sound defensive game and didn't give the Flames much either. The difference, as on Thursday, was all about the power plays. The Flames scored three times on the man advantage. The Canucks, obviously, did not.

Here's what we learned ...

MARKSTROM EFFECT

Heading into the game, Markstrom shrugged his shoulders a little when asked if the fact the Canucks counted as longtime rivals for the Flames made for an even bigger motivation for him, since they're also his old team.

Every game is two points, he said, trying to downplay things. But you have to think that while he might feel weird playing his old friends, this is how he wanted to start his account against the team that wouldn't pay him what the Flames would.

ANOTHER SOFT START

The Flames were buzzing from the get-go and they earned a power play as a result of their hustle.

Monahan, who'd just missed a chance to open the scoring in the game's first minute, potted from the slot, flipping a loose puck past Braden Holtby.

Monahan's chance in the first minute, by the way, was the second game in a row the Canucks had needed either a strong defensive play — in this case it was Tyler Motte — or solid goaltending, as was the case Thursday from Thatcher Demko, to keep the opposition from taking an early lead.

It was the first part of a sequence of early pressure, a stretch that carried on and led to their power play 8:16 into the first. Monahan's goal came just 15 second in.

YOU CANNOT STOP WHAT YOU CANNOT SEE

What a screen in front of Holtby for the Dube goal, which came late in a second period that had seen the Canucks be mostly the better team.

Milan Lucic parked his enormous frame in front and Holtby never had a chance. The Canucks went into the second intermission down 2-0 and on the whole were struggling to get the puck to the middle of the ice. And as much work as they'd been putting in, they weren't getting shots from the middle of the ice at even strength and on the power play; the Flames' penalty killers were doing great work making life difficult for the Canucks. The Flames' stout defence isn't a big surprise, since they've been known for standing tall in front of their goalies for years.

KNOWING YOUR NEW ENEMIES

Chris Tanev watched a lot of Canucks power plays — especially in practice — last season. And so it was no surprise that he was reading their setups so well and blocked as many shots as he did.

It was summed up no better when he calmly blocked a Brock Boeser shot from the left side of the Flames' net. He knew where to stand even before the puck got to the Canucks' shooter.

DO YOUR DEKES

Elias Pettersson was great in the season opener on Wednesday night. But he struggled Thursday up against Connor McDavid, and then Saturday against the Flames he struggled up against Sam Bennett.

He did have a couple good defensive moments — backchecking in the second period after he'd made a bad pass; checking Derek Ryan's stick on an in-close chance; and bailing out Quinn Hughes when the blueliner was forced into an uncustomary turnover by Andrew Mangiapane — but he plays to score. Do you think he misses J.T. Miller?