Markstrom, Flames hand Canadiens first regulation loss with shutout

MONTREAL -- Jacob Markstrom made 37 saves for his second shutout, and the Calgary Flames ended a three-game losing streak with a 2-0 win against the Montreal Canadiens at Bell Centre on Saturday.

Montreal (5-1-2) lost in regulation for the first time this season, ending its seven-game point streak.
Calgary blocked 22 shots in front of Markstrom, who had a 32-save shutout Jan. 16 in a 3-0 win against the Vancouver Canucks, his former team.
"When shots were coming, I was seeing the puck," Markstrom said. "And if I didn't see the puck it means our guys were blocking shots and clearing rebounds, so it made my job a heck of a lot easier. So that was a big win for us to come back here and win after some games where we weren't happy and satisfied with the results."

Johnny Gaudreau scored the Flames' 10th power-play goal in seven games at 3:34 of the first period. Calgary has scored a power-play goal in every game.
Mikael Backlund scored for the Flames (3-3-1), who split the two-game set in Montreal after losing 4-2 in the Canadiens' home opener Thursday.
"When your goalie plays like that you're not going to lose ever," Flames captain Mark Giordano said. "So it was a great moment for him to step in. Obviously we've been on a little bit of a slide, but I thought the guys were blocking shots today, we were invested emotionally and you know he was our backbone there. So it was a great team win."
Jake Allen made 31 saves in his first home start for Montreal.
"It was a pretty hard-fought game on both sides," Canadiens forward Brendan Gallagher said. "I mean, they came out strong, it just comes down to putting the puck in. Our goaltender gave us a great chance tonight. He played awesome again and so I think he deserved a little bit better."

Gaudreau extended his point streak to seven games when he scored from the right face-off circle to put Calgary up 1-0. He handled a flip pass from the left side with his left glove and dropped it to the ice before scoring on a wrist shot over Allen's left shoulder.
"It's definitely important to get the lead," Flames forward Matthew Tkachuk said. "We haven't played with the lead a whole lot in the last couple of weeks, so it was definitely nice to get the first one."
Backlund scored into an empty net to make it 2-0 with 32 seconds remaining.
"We knew they were going to come out hard at the beginning, which they did," Canadiens defenseman Ben Chiarot said. "And I thought their goalie played exceptional tonight."
Canadiens forward Josh Anderson did not finish the game after playing 6:06. Montreal coach Claude Julien said Anderson was sent home with flulike symptoms.
"Obviously we don't want that spreading, but he's tested negative for COVID testing," Julien said. "He'll be tested again tomorrow, but with everything that's going on right now it was cautionary measures by our medical staff to send him home."
NOTES: Gaudreau has scored nine points (five goals, four assists). His streak is the longest by a Flames player to start a season since 2013-14, when Jiri Hudler scored 12 points (four goals, eight assists) in the first nine games. ... Giordano, a defenseman, played his 900th NHL game, all with Calgary.