Blake Coleman broke a scoreless tie in the third period, the first of his two goals on the night, and Dan Vladar posted his first shutout of the season as the host Calgary Flames beat the New Jersey Devils 3-0 on Friday.
Vladar made 22 saves for his third career shutout as the Flames snapped a four-game skid. Vladar also collected one assist, and Jonathan Huberdeau scored the Flames’ other goal.
Jacob Markstrom, who was traded to New Jersey in June after four seasons with the Flames, stopped 29 shots. The Devils had a two-game winning streak snapped.
With overtime looming, Coleman finally opened the scoring with 5:34 left in regulation. Coleman deflected Kevin Bahl’s point shot off his own skate and into the cage. Bahl was acquired by the Flames in the trade that sent Markstrom to the Devils.
Huberdeau added to Calgary’s lead 28 seconds later. Off a rush, Huberdeau redirected a pass from Anthony Mantha for his fifth goal of the campaign.
Coleman scored into an empty net, his third goal of the season, with 3:15 remaining.
The Flames spent the remainder of the game trying to clamp down defensively against the Devils, and even snuffed a late New Jersey power play while Huberdeau was in the box for a slashing infraction.
Although the clash was low key for most of the clash, both goaltenders delivered their share of clutch stops.
Among Vladar’s key stops were when he denied Jack Hughes on a second-period breakaway and Tomas Tatar’s close-in chance midway through the third period.
Markstrom, whom the Flames organization acknowledged during the first period, soon after shut the door on Andrei Kuzmenko and denied Yegor Sharangovich early in the second period. Markstrom also made a couple of stops against Matt Coronato late in the second period.
Devils forward Nathan Bastian left the game due to a jaw injury suffered in a first-period fight with Ryan Lomberg, a scrap in which Lomberg unloaded a series of punches to Bastian’s face.
–Field Level Media
