Goaltender Dustin Wolf stopped all 26 shots he faced in a 1-0 Calgary Flames win over the Canadiens at Scotiabank Saddledome on Saturday night.
It was a battle of Calder Trophy contenders: Wolf is willing the Flames into the playoff race in the west, while Lane Hutson is arguably doing the same for his club in the Eastern Conference.
Hutson was minus-1 in 24:40 of ice time.
Montreal had a rookie goalie of their own between the pipes, Jakub Dobes, and he was nearly Wolf’s equal with a stellar 23-save performance that included a few acrobatic stops.
Patrik Laine was a late scratch because of the flu, and the power play suffered, going 0-2 in a tight goaltender battle where one shot could’ve been all the difference. Michael Pezzetta dressed for only the 15th time this season and was deployed sparingly.
It was all Calgary in the first period. They fired nine shots on Dobes, but the goalie kept the game scoreless after 20 minutes.
Emil Heineman took a David Savard shot to the ear and left the ice bloodied, but he returned before the end of the period.
The only goal of the night was scored in the second period. The Habs were caught in quicksand and Joel Farabee was able to execute a successful give-and-go with Mikael Backlund to give the Flames a 1-0 lead.
After the first period, the Canadiens peppered Wolf with just about everything they could muster, but the netminder was unflappable. He ended the night with the all-important win for his club and his third shutout of the season.
With Habs coach Martin St. Louis shortening his bench in an effort to climb back, Hutson did what he could to solve his rookie counterpart in the Calgary goal. That included this move off the draw to get the puck across to Savard for a one-timer chance.
After getting a seal of approval from management on a quiet trade deadline Friday, Montreal came out lethargically on Saturday before attempting to storm back in the final two periods. They simply had no answer for Wolf.
St. Louis relied on his horses. Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Juraj Slafkovsky, Hutson and Mike Matheson all topped 21 minutes of ice time.
The Canadiens have begun their western road trip with two losses. The five-game winning streak that vaulted them back into the playoff race is firmly in the rearview, although their two most recent losses were only by a single goal, including one in overtime.
The Habs remain two points back of the final wild-card spot, currently occupied by the Columbus Blue Jackets. Montreal has back-to-back road games on Tuesday and Wednesday before returning home.
Here’s what the Liveblog commenters had to say about the loss. It was hard to understand why the Habs came out so slowly to start the game with so much on the line.
3. “Going to be tough making the playoffs with one line. Not enough words to express how frustrated I feel with Laine. How many games now has he missed with the flu? Ridiculous. How many of us have dragged our butts to work feeling under the weather? Ya ya ya. I know it’s a different thing to play a sport. But take some medicine and play. Even if it’s just to be available for the PP. Betrer than dressing Pezz. Clearly Laine is not the answer.” — Marc Taillefer
2. “Once again, not playing a 60 minute game killed their chance of winning tonight.” — Bob Taylor
1. “Good starts so important, moreso now. Wasted the first 20 minutes. If you can’t score you can’t win. Needed the point(s).” — Kelly Morgan