5 THINGS - FLAMES @ CANADIENS
The Flames wrap up their road trip in Quebec
Video: Brendan Parker sets up tonight's clash in Montreal
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GAME DAY VIDEO
Game Day with Brendan Parker
Pregame Interviews
GAME DAY FEATURES
Projected Lineup
'Looking Forward to Tonight' - Toffoli
Playing with Confidence
Say What - 'The Atmosphere is Great'
STAT PACK
Media Game Notes
Scoring Leaders
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Leading Scorers:
Flames:
Points - Elias Lindholm (23)
Goals - Nazem Kadri (11)
Canadiens:
Points - Nick Suzuki (29)
Goals - Cole Caufield (16)
Special Teams:
Flames:
PP - 20.4% (24th) / PK - 80.2% (10th)
Canadiens:
PP - 15.7% (30th) / PK - 80.7% (9th)
Advanced Stats:
Flames:
Shot Attempts: 54.10% (4th)
High-Danger Chances: 51.66% (14th)
Canadiens:
Shot Attempts: 48.81% (21st)
High-Danger Chances: 42.83% (29th)
After struggling to generate offence in Columbus on Friday, the Flames were able to crank up the pressure in Toronto's zone on Saturday night.
Unfortunately, the Leafs firepower was also on full display, with the back-and-forth match-up going Toronto's way in overtime.
The 5-4 setback saw Noah Hanifin score twice, Nazem Kadri find the back of the net against his former club, and Trevor Lewis pick up his fifth goal of the season.
"It was a good hockey game," head coach Darryl Sutter said. "I thought we had a really good effort from our club.
"It was a good effort. We had to shorten (the bench) up a little bit, which you don't like to do in back-to-backs, but we tried to put some of those kids in the lineup to give us a little bit of pop these two games and also ... show some of the veterans that there is some ... we didn't see it in training camp, where there was any competition so nobody got the opportunity. A little competition is healthy for our club."
The rookies Sutter referenced were Radim Zohorna, in his second game in as many nights, and Matthew Phillips, who made his season debut in Toronto. Zohorna nearly doubled his minutes from his season debut in Columbus, logging 11:42 against the Leafs, and Phillips put in 9:21 of work at Scotiabank Arena, registering one shot on net. Both were able to put in time on the second powerplay unit as well.
"I thought I got better as the game went on," Phillips said afterwards. "I think my line improved as the game went on, had a couple of good looks, so overall, there's stuff to build off of."
Dan Vladar was in net on Saturday, making 29 saves on 34 shots.
Video: Coach weighs in on the Habs, Lucic, Zohorna and more
The Canadiens have had an up-and-down December, bouncing back and forth between wins and losses in their opening five games of the month.
They're coming off of a 4-2 setback to the LA Kings on Saturday, a loss that saw Mike Hoffman and Cole Caufield find the back of the net and Jake Allen make 31 saves on the 34 shots he faced.
"They're a well-structured team, we all know that," Allen told NHL.com after the loss. "I think they're a good hockey club. I know we don't see them often, but they've got some good veterans, some good chemistry over there, and I think their neutral zone is tough to crack. That 1-3-1 forecheck is tough to crack, and they're good at possessing the puck in the O-zone. We saw that tonight, creating chances from that."
Both Canadiens goals came in the third period, drawing them within one before Adrian Kempe added an empty-netter to secure the win for LA.
"They sit back and wait for you to dump the puck, and they've got a guy waiting for it," Caufield told NHL.com. "So it's hard to get pucks back with that. It's not really fun hockey, in my opinion, but you've got to find ways to beat it. And there's some times where we did, but it's obviously a tough thing to crack."
Video: "Some good memories from my short time here"
STRONG IN THE CIRCLE: Elias Lindholm has been excellent when it comes to face-offs, sitting sixth in the league in even-strength wins (238), sixth in short-handed wins (43), fourth in home wins (187), and fourth in overall wins (319).
LEADING HIS COUNTRYMEN:Adam Ruzicka leads all Slovakian-born players with a 0.89 points-per-game average this season, with 16 points through 18 games played. He is tied for the lead in scoring among Slovaks in the NHL and leads his countrymen with 10 assists on the year.
THE LUCK OF LEWIS:The Flames have a point in every road game Trevor Lewis has scored a goal in since joining the team last season. They are now 6-0-1 with Lewis' tally in the 5-4 OT loss in Toronto.
Flames - Nazem Kadri
The veteran centre has been red hot over the last stretch of games, posting six points in his last five games. He leads the Flames with 11 goals and is second in team scoring with 21 points.
Canadiens - Cole Caufield
The winger heads into tonight's battle with on three-game scoring streak. He currently leads the Canadiens with 16 goals on the year and has four in his past five skates.
Jonathan Huberdeau on Saturday's game in Toronto:
"I thought we played way better than in Columbus so I think we've got to build off of that, we got a point and (now) focus on Montreal."
Video: "It's special. It's going to be a lot of fun tonight"
