Canadiens defeat Flames in Monahan's return to Calgary

CALGARY -- Sean Monahan had two assists, and Jake Allen made 45 saves to help the Montreal Canadiens defeat the Calgary Flames 2-1 at Scotiabank Saddledome on Thursday.

Monahan, who played his first nine seasons with the Flames after being selected in the first round (No. 6) of the 2013 NHL Draft, was traded to the Canadiens on Aug. 18. He is ninth in Calgary history in games played (656), eighth in goals (212) and sixth in power-play goals (66).
"It was special," Monahan said. "I've been thinking about it for a while and it's finally here. You get a lot of emotions coming up into the game. Once I stepped on the ice in warmup, I was pretty nervous to be honest. I was the most nervous I've been for a long time. I'm just happy we came out with a win. It was fun."

Juraj Slafkovsky and Cole Caufield each scored for Montreal (12-10-1), which has won three straight on the road.
"The whole locker room knew he's coming back home, because he was here nine years," Slafkovsky said. "Still, we wanted to win and that was something special about this win for 'Mony' and coming back here. He got a big standing ovation. That was great for him. At the end of the game there's nothing better than a close game and a win."
Elias Lindholm scored, and Jacob Markstrom made 17 saves for Calgary (10-10-3), which has lost four of its past five games and 12 of its past 17 (5-9-3).
"The guys did a great job and, once again, I've got to be better," Markstrom said. "I [stink] right now, so I've got to step up. We're playing good hockey and not letting many scoring chances in, but we can't start behind every game."

Caufield scored on a one-timer from the left face-off dot off a pass from Nick Suzuki to put the Canadiens up 2-1 at 6:29 of the third period on a power play.
Allen then stopped Lindholm with a pad save at 8:38, and Mikael Backlund on a backdoor setup by Tyler Toffoli on a 3-on-1 at 12:28.
Canadiens defenseman Kaiden Guhle blocked a Michael Stone slap shot with 24 seconds remaining to help preserve the win.
"Gutsy win, obviously. It wasn't pretty," Allen said. "They're a really good hockey club. But we had a lot of blocked shots, guys sacrificed a lot, our PK was pretty solid tonight all around structurally I thought from my vantage point. It's one of those games you find ways to win. It's a good building block here."

Montreal blocked 23 shots and was 4-for-4 on the penalty kill.
Slafkovsky scored 13 seconds into the game to give the Canadiens a 1-0 lead. Markstrom came out with a sliding block to challenge a loose puck off the stick of Monahan, and turned it over to Slafkovsky, who scored into the empty net.
"I've never scored in my first shift or never had a point in my first shift, so that's a great way to start a game," Slafkovsky said.
Lindholm tied it 1-1 at 19:31 of the second period when he tapped in a pass across the top of the crease from Jonathan Huberdeau.
"It's tough," said Lindholm, who ended a seven-game goal drought. "We tried hard in the third and I think we can still do a better job with traffic. I think their goalie saw a lot of pucks. We've just got to bear down more."
NOTES:Slafkovsky scored the fastest game-opening goal for Montreal since Dec. 2, 2010 (Brian Gionta, 11 seconds). ... Caufield played his 100th NHL game, the third-fewest to reach 40 goals in Canadiens history, behind Maurice Richard (67 games), Jean Beliveau (90) and Bernie Geoffrion (90). … Huberdeau extended his point streak (one goal, three assists) and his assist streak to three games each. ... Montreal forward Brendan Gallagher did not play and is day to day with a lower-body injury. … Canadiens forward Mike Hoffman was placed on injured reserve earlier Thursday with a lower-body injury. Rem Pitlick was recalled from Laval of the American Hockey League but was not available. The Canadiens played with seven defensemen.