Calgary's road trip ended on a positive thanks to top-tier goaltending from Jacob Markstrom on one line making the difference
Jacob Markstrom was named the first star after the Calgary Flames claimed their 2-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens.
Considering how Markstrom has played this season, it was a deserved honour.
Officially, Markstrom made 33 saves — and somehow needed to make only eight in the final period — but it was likely his best performance of the season for a Calgary team that has a 5-8-2 record.
His stop on Cole Caufield late in the first period kept the game scoreless. His presence in the waning moments, notably the glove save on Josh Anderson (the 21-goal scorer from last season who looks absolutely snakebite), was the difference.
A few days after the summoning of Dustin Wolf and the excitement provided from it, as well as his first NHL game of the season, Markstrom provided some of his best work after being sidelined for a pair of games.
Can he put the Flames back into a playoff spot? That would be quite the feat. But if the Flames will have any chance, they need more of the same.
Here are three other thoughts from the victory that ended Calgary’s three-game road swing on a high.
The kids keep producing
Connor Zary netted his first multi-point game, his first game-winning goal and now has hit the scoresheet in five of six career NHL games. (He also had a six-game point streak to start the season for the AHL Wranglers.)
Only Andrew Mangiapane, Nazem Kadri, Elias Lindholm and Jonathan Huberdeau have more points than Zary.
Meanwhile, Martin Pospisil posted another assist and has points in four of his five NHL games.
The Flames have little to be happy about this season, but the way those two have fared since joining the team must but near the top of the list.
What next for Huberdeau?
The latest attempt to find something — anything — that will spark Jonathan Huberdeau was to put him with two of the club’s most consistent players in Mikael Backlund and Blake Coleman.
The result was horrific.
Courtesy, NaturalStatTrick.com, that line was 7-19 in Corsi for/against; 0.26-0.8 in expected goals for/against; 1-11 in scoring chances for/against; 1-5 in high-danger scoring chances for/against.
Sure, it is only one game and it could be worth trying again, but those are shockingly bad numbers.
Back to the power-play drawing board
It does not help that Elias Lindhom (two assists in 10 games) and Huberdeau (three assists in 11 games) are spiralling to lower and lower levels as the season continues, but Calgary’s putrid power play is reaching new depths.
The Flames are 0-for-11 in the last four games and 3-for-39 in the last dozen games. On a night the Flames held a lead after two periods for the first time since Game 2, they could have put it away with a late man-advantage.
Instead, nothing.
With three power-play opportunities against Montreal, a team well into the league’s bottom half killing penalties, the Flames managed only two shots on goal.