Flames Visual Recap 28: Flames win second straight against Canadiens, gain critical ground in standings

The Calgary Flames came into the week with a set of goals against the Montreal Canadiens, win two games and the playoff picture looks a whole lot better. Two games with Darryl Sutter behind the bench, two impressive wins for the Flames.

The Flames started the game with an early power play and that gave them a whole lot of first period momentum. Calgary was dominant all around and made Montreal look like they were still tired from the game before.

Sean Monahan scored twice in the period to get career goals number 200 and 201, and also to put the Flames up 2-0. The first came off an impressive effort protecting the puck right in front of the net to get a perfectly placed shot past Carey Price. Later on the Flames’ power play, Monahan was in the right place at the right time to convert for his second of the night.

Heading into the second period, the Flames continued to be relentless on the puck and while there was a response from Montreal to lead to good back and forth action, Calgary was able to capitalise on their chances first, with Mikael Backlund scoring thanks to a perfect feed from Andrew Mangiapane.

Montreal made it interesting with Jeff Petry scoring to make it a 3-1. However, the Flames refused to give the Canadiens any momentum and instead turned the tides back in their favour in terms of shot pressure, closing out the second period with a good display of offence.

With the two goal lead entering the third period, the Flames needed to shut down their opponents, and for the second straight game, Montreal’s last 5v5 shot attempt came with about ten minutes remaining in the game. Calgary did a solid job of keeping Montreal to the outside all night long, and were able to effectively prevent any sustained offence from the visitors.

The game might have ended 4-2 had it not been for two kicked in goals, the first from Johnny Gaudreau and the second from Josh Anderson. It’s not every night that two goals are disallowed for the same reason.

All in all, the Flames picked up four big points against the very team they are chasing. Now just two points behind Montreal (with one extra game played), the season is looking much more hopeful now than it did a week ago.

Check out how the game transpired with visualisations here: