Johnny Gaudreau was the hero with the winning goal in overtime and goaltender Jacob Markstrom collected his league-best seventh shutout of the season as the host Calgary Flames blanked the Vancouver Canucks 1-0 on Saturday.
Gaudreau’s 17th goal of the season came 29 seconds into the overtime period. Moments after he broke up a Canucks rush, Gaudreau was the trailer on the ensuing odd-man rush when Elias Lindholm dropped a pass for him in the slot.
Gaudreau, who was denied during a second-period penalty shot attempt, unloaded a low slap shot that found the mark to give the Flames their fourth win in six games and put them back into a wild-card playoff position in the Western Conference standings.
Markstrom needed to only make 15 saves to earn his 15th career shutout. The Canucks were thoroughly outplayed; shots on goal favored Calgary 14-1 seven minutes into the second period.
Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko was outstanding in his return after missing four games due to COVID protocol. Demko made several key saves on top of Gaudreau’s penalty-shot attempt, among them when he flashed across the crease to deny Andrew Mangiapane’s one-timer early in the second period.
That said, the Flames had plenty of opportunities to win in regulation, with their power play a huge issue. The hosts failed to convert during four power-play opportunities against Vancouver’s league-worst penalty kill.
Among those advantages came when Canucks defenseman Tyler Myers was assessed a match penalty after a hit to the head on Calgary’s Trevor Lewis 13 minutes into the game. Lewis left momentarily but returned to start the second period.
Despite the loss, the Canucks received a big boost before the game, with captain Bo Horvat also returning after missing five games due to COVID protocol.
–Field Level Media
