Monahan breaks tie in third, Flames defeat Canadiens

CALGARY-- Sean Monahan scored a tiebreaking goal at 5:58 of the third period, and the Calgary Flames defeated the Montreal Canadiens 4-2 at Scotiabank Saddledome on Friday in the first of a three-game series.

Andrew Mangiapane had a goal and an assist, and Dillon Dube scored for Calgary (20-23-3), which had lost two in a row. Jacob Markstrom made 18 saves.
The Flames are fifth in the seven-team Scotia North Division, six points behind the Canadiens. The top four teams qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
"I think we have to look at it as just take it as a game at a time," Mangiapane said. "No sense in looking ahead. We'll play them when it happens. Obviously everyone knows what situation we're in, so we've got to make up ground and we're trying to catch these guys and every game's key."
Tyler Toffoli and Joel Armia scored, and Jake Allen made 27 saves for Montreal (20-16-9), which has lost three of four and has not won consecutive games since a three-game winning streak from March 20-April 1.
"I'm sure there's some frustration from everyone, but hey, the game's over," Allen said. "You can think about it for a few minutes but get that out of your head. We go right back at it tomorrow. We have another chance to redeem ourselves here. We're very fortunate. We've got three games here in four days. We'll play our best hockey and get on a roll here heading down the stretch. That's the way I look at it. The game's over. We lost. It's time to move on."

The teams play here Saturday and Monday.
"It's a big one. You've got to take this day by day," Monahan said. "We've got another one tomorrow. We've got to be ready for it. They're going to come out with a better game, so we've got to up our level too."
Monahan made it 3-2 when he one-timed a pass from below the goal line from Johnny Gaudreau.
"He's probably given me 150 of those," Monahan said. "I'm pretty used to that. We've played together for years. When you're out there together you expect to get looks and you've got to expect to put the puck in the net."
Nick Suzuki hit the crossbar at 11:16, and Josh Anderson hit the post at 12:29 for Montreal.
Elias Lindholm scored into an empty net with 8 seconds remaining for the 4-2 final.
"We knew it was a big game tonight," Canadiens defenseman Joel Edmundson said. "Obviously they're chasing us, but we're looking at the past couple games and the next two against them as a best-of-5. They're up 2-1 right now, but we've got two more games in the next three nights. We've got to win the next two. Tonight we just didn't get to our game enough."
Dube gave the Flames a 1-0 lead at 6:06 of the first period when he one-timed Mangiapane's centering pass. The goal was his first in 15 games since March 15.

Toffoli tied it 1-1 at 13:19 with a shot off the rush from the high slot over Markstrom's right pad, and Armia scored on a short-side shot through a screen off a face-off win to give the Canadiens a 2-1 lead at 18:24.
Mangiapane deflected Noah Hanifin's point shot on the power play with 36 seconds remaining in the period to tie it 2-2.
Mikael Backlund scored at 17:17 of the second period, but Montreal successfully challenged that he interfered with Allen in the crease when he dislodged the puck from the goalie's blocker.
NOTES: Canadiens defenseman Erik Gustafsson, who was acquired in a trade with the Philadelphia Flyers on April 12, made his Montreal debut in place of forward Jonathan Drouin (illness). ... Toffoli has scored four goals in the past five games. ... Lindholm has scored nine points (five goals, four assists) in a seven-game point streak. ... Gaudreau has an assist in three straight games and seven points (two goals, five assists) in his past six games.