Flames shut out Canadiens for eighth straight win

CALGARY -- Johnny Gaudreau had a goal and three assists and Brian Elliott made 24 saves to give the Calgary Flames a season-high eighth straight win, 5-0 against the Montreal Canadiens at Scotiabank Saddledome on Thursday.
"We're playing well," Gaudreau said. "It's fun to come to the rink when you're winning games. Keep that happy atmosphere around the rink and go from there."
Michael Stone and Sean Monahan each had a goal and an assist, and Mark Giordano and Micheal Ferland also scored for the Flames (37-26-4), who are 13-2-1 since losing 5-1 at Montreal on Jan. 24. Calgary has won eight consecutive games for the first time since Nov. 1-16, 2005.

WATCH: All Canadiens vs. Flames highlights
Elliott, who got his first shutout of the season, is 8-0-1 and has allowed 16 goals in his past nine games.
"It's just fun to be on this ride right now with the guys," Elliott said. "Personally, you want to stay playing well and feeling good seeing the puck. When the guys are playing like they are in front of you, you just stop a couple and they do the rest."
Al Montoya made 33 saves for the Canadiens (38-22-8), who ended a six-game winning streak. Montreal, first in the Atlantic Division, is 7-2-0 in the past nine games.
"Their game was at its best and you can see why they're on a pretty good roll right now," Canadiens coach Claude Julien said. "It's unfortunate. We were looking for a good matchup of two teams that had been playing well, but we came out real flat here tonight."

Giordano scored his 10th goal of the season at 7:38 of the first period to give Calgary a 1-0 lead, and Stone made it 2-0 at 8:36 of the second when his shot through traffic beat Montoya far side.
Monahan and Ferland scored 26 seconds apart to put the Flames up 4-0. Monahan scored at 15:28 after Stone's shot was blocked on the way to the net, and Ferland shot by Montoya's glove at 15:54.
"We looked like a tired team tonight for some reason," Julien said. "We had no energy. Our skating legs weren't there across the board and it showed."
Gaudreau scored with 3:48 remaining in the third period to make it 5-0. He has three goals and 10 assists in the past eight games.
"It's nice to contribute offensively," Gaudreau said. "I've been up and down throughout the season there trying to find the net."
Flames defenseman Dougie Hamilton sustained a lower-body injury late in the second period and Stone sustained an upper-body injury early in the third. Neither returned.

Goal of the game

Ferland took a pass from Gaudreau in the slot and snapped a shot off one foot and by Montoya's glove.

Save of the game

Elliott used his pad to trap Brendan Gallagher's redirect on a centering pass into the slot from Andrei Markov 43 seconds after Stone put Calgary up 2-0.
"That's a big save," Giordano said. "That keeps us going, keeps our momentum and he's been there for us all year and this past streak especially."

Highlight of the game

Giordano took a drop pass in the high slot from Matthew Tkachuk before skating in and shooting by Montoya's glove.

#

Unsung performance of the game

Giordano knocked away a loose puck from Canadiens forward Max Pacioretty, who was looking at an empty net with Elliott scrambling to his left at 13:05 of the first period with Calgary up 1-0.

They said it

"We played great in the offensive zone, defensive zone and the neutral zone there. We played simple. We got pucks to the net and found a way to get some greasy goals there and get a couple nice ones. [Elliott] played great back there too. It was a great effort, a great 60 minutes by our whole team." --Flames forward Johnny Gaudreau
"They played well in their building and they've been rolling. We just hoped to get our legs going after the first there to give the team a bit of a boost. I think the second period did us in, the three goals, so it's a tough one to swallow. We'll get back to work here in a couple days." -- Canadiens goaltender Al Montoya

Need to know

The Flames have had three eight-game winning streaks since moving to Calgary in 1980 (Nov. 1-18, 2005; Dec. 14, 1992-Jan. 2, 1993; Jan. 31-Feb. 15, 1989). The franchises record is 10 straight wins set from Oct. 14-Nov. 3, 1978 as the Atlanta Flames. Carey Price, who did not play because of the flu, backed up Montoya. Tomas Plekanec (upper body) missed his second straight game after playing 236 consecutive games since March 29, 2014. Alexander Radulov (lower body) and Brian Flynn (upper body) also did not play for the Canadiens.

What's next

Canadiens: At the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday (7 p.m. ET; SN, RDS, NHL.TV)
Flames: At the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; SN, NHL.TV)