CALGARY 鈥� It was more difficult than perhaps it should have been given Calgary's 31-5 edge in shots after two periods, but the red-hot Flames won again on Saturday.
Elias Lindholm's 30th goal was the game-winner and Jacob Markstrom made 14 saves in the third period as the Flames improved to 16-2-1 in their last 19 games with a 3-0 blanking of the Detroit Red Wings.
鈥淣o, but we played well,鈥� said Lindholm, when asked if he had seen that kind of dominance in a game before. 鈥淢ade it hard on them and played a lot in the o-zone and the shots are going to end up that way.鈥�
Despite the huge territorial edge through 40 minutes, the score was only 1-0 thanks to the sensational goaltending of Thomas Greiss.
Markstrom, who stopped 19 pucks total, admitted the long periods of inactivity made it difficult at times.
鈥淒efinitely more mentally draining than physically, obviously,鈥� said Markstrom, whose nine shutouts leads the league and is one off the franchise record of 10 held by Miikka Kiprusoff.
鈥淚f you look at the games, most games, may not look like this, but similar, so it's definitely a team stat,鈥� said Markstrom, who is 28-11-6. 鈥淛ust try to tell the guys to keep going and keep playing this way. It's fun to be goalie for this team.鈥�
In allowing the Red Wings to press early in the third for the equalizer, Flames coach Darryl Sutter described it as a learning experience that his team has to continue to play the same way, even if they haven't been rewarded on the scoreboard.
鈥淲inning's hard. If you break and try and get your goal or your assist or your point, then there's a good chance you make a mistake. Good chance you lose. We're learning about that,鈥� Sutter said.
Tyler Toffoli and Blake Coleman scored third period goals for Calgary (36-15-7), which entered the night in first place in the Pacific Division, five points up on the Los Angeles Kings with two games in hand.
The Flames were flying to Denver immediately after the game as they play their fifth contest in seven days on Sunday night when they take on the Colorado Avalanche.
Detroit (24-28-7) is winless in its last five (0-4-1).
"I think we had too many guys that had no jump at all,鈥� said Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill. 鈥淲e had guys that didn't probably battle hard enough at times, so we just defended and played in our end and they got chances and shots and just couldn't get any jump going at all.鈥�
Greiss finished with 40 stops. He is 8-10-1.
"They're a team that that's what they try and do. That's what they preach, is shooting the puck and hunting it back,鈥� said Detroit forward Sam Gagner. 鈥淏ut they got slot chances as well that Greisser stood tall on. Played great for us. It's too bad we couldn't help him out a little more."
Lindholm opened the scoring on the power play at 9:22 of the first period.
Thirty is a career high in goals for Lindholm, who is having a career season offensively with 62 points in 58 games. He's on an eight-game point streak with 13 points (seven goals, six assists) over that span.
鈥淚t's always nice to get to 30. I've been close a couple of times but haven't been able to get there. So it's always nice to finally break it,鈥� Lindholm said.
Calgary took a 2-0 lead and made it 2-for-2 on the man advantage at 8:25 with Matthew Tkachuk setting up Toffoli at the side of the net with a cross-crease pass.
Toffoli has eight goals and 13 points in 13 games since being acquired from the Montreal Canadiens in a trade on Feb. 14.
Missing forwards Robby Fabbri and Tyler Bertuzzi, the Red Wings were down two of their top-four goal scorers. The 41 combined goals from Bertuzzi (24) and Fabbri (17) account for nearly a quarter of the team's 167 goals.
Fabbri suffered a season-ending knee injury on Thursday night against Minnesota. Bertuzzi, who is not vaccinated against COVID-19, is unable to cross the border into sa国际传媒 so did not accompany the team for this three-game road trip that also includes stops in Edmonton and Vancouver.
"They're big parts of our team,鈥� said Gagner. 鈥淵ou obviously really feel for Fabbs with his injury history and what he's meant to our group and his compete level and everything like that. Just feel awful for him. And not having Bert, he's a real important part of things as well.鈥�
NOTES: Detroit defenceman Marc Staal played in his 1,000th career game. Marc, Eric (1,293) and Jordan (1,070) became the first trio of brothers to all play 1,000 games... Referee Dean Morton worked his final game before retiring. It comes in the building in which, as a Red Wings defenceman, he played his only NHL game and scored a goal on Oct. 5, 1989... With Oliver Kylington (lower body) a scratch, Michael Stone played his first game in over three months and just his third of the season.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 12, 2022.
Darren Haynes, The Canadian Press
