NHL Roundup: Flames win 10 in row, Habs stun Leafs, Bruins beat Avs, and more
Anthony Scultore
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It was President’s Day in the U.S. which led to some Monday Matinees. All in all there were a total of five games on the schedule for hockey fans to enjoy.
The Boston Bruins, buoyed by the return of their captain Patrice Bergeron, put together a full game and handed the Colorado Avalanche a loss to start the day. Meanwhile, Martin St. Louis has his Montreal Canadiens playing with some “swagger” as they stunned the Toronto Maple Leafs.
However, we start our recaps in Calgary where the red-hot Flames have won their 10 straight game, this time against the Winnipeg Jets.
Flames 3, Jets 1
Elias Lindholm scored the tie-breaking goal with 47 seconds left and the Calgary Flames tied their franchise record with their 10th consecutive victory, a 3-1 win against the visiting Winnipeg Jets on Monday afternoon.
Lindholm has scored a goal in eight straight games, which also ties a franchise record.
“Ten in a row is nice,” Lindholm said. “Ten in a row, that’s good. We were struggling a little bit there before we started the streak. It was just nice to see it go in. It was a tough game. It was tight, not a lot of chances, but we stuck with it. Ten in a row feels pretty good.”
Sean Monahan and Tyler Toffoli also scored. Jacob Markstrom made 22 saves for the Flames, who had won 10 straight games twice previously in franchise history, most recently toward the end of the 2016-17 season.
Markstrom has won eight straight decisions, allowing two goals or fewer in all eight wins, including two shutouts.
Hurricanes 4, Flyers 3 (OT)
Brett Pesce scored with 18 seconds remaining in overtime to lift Carolina past host Philadelphia.
Vincent Trocheck added one goal and one assist while Nino Niederreiter and Teuvo Teravainen also scored for the Hurricanes, who won their third in a row. Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Andersen made 38 saves.
Gerry Mayhew, Patrick Brown and Oskar Lindblom each scored one goal for the reeling Flyers, who have lost five straight as well as the opening two games of an eight-game homestand.
Canadiens 5, Maple Leafs 2
Josh Anderson had two goals and an assist to lead host Montreal past Toronto.
Cole Caufield added a goal and two assists for the Canadiens, who extended their winning streak to a season-best three games. Mike Hoffman and Rem Pitlick also scored for the Canadiens, who led 5-0 after two periods. Sam Montembeault stopped 35 shots for Montreal.
Ilya Mikheyev and Pierre Engvall scored for the Maple Leafs, who have lost two in a row. Petr Mrazek made 19 saves for Toronto.
“I think you need some swagger and I think we’re building a lot of swagger right now,” Montreal coach Martin St. Louis said. “And swagger is not like cockiness or arrogance, it’s just like believing in yourself and feeling good about yourself, and I think we have that. Swagger is so important in this league to be successful.”
NHL.com
Canucks 5, Kraken 2
Tyler Motte scored 11 seconds into the game and Bo Horvat added a goal 35 seconds into the third period Monday as the Vancouver Canucks used a quick-strike offense to rally for a 5-2 victory over the visiting Seattle Kraken.
Travis Hamonic, Vasily Podkolzin and Tanner Pearson each added goals as the Canucks rebounded from a one-goal first-period deficit to win for the third time in four games.
Thatcher Demko made 25 saves for Vancouver, which improved to 3-0-0 against the Kraken this season while outscoring the expansion club by a combined 14-6. Elias Pettersson, Juho Lammikko and J.T. Miller each had two assists for the Canucks.
Jared McCann and Mark Giordano each scored first-period goals for Seattle. McCann, who played for the Canucks in his rookie season of 2015-16, scored in his 400th career game.
Chris Driedger stopped 41 shots for the Kraken, who dropped their fourth consecutive game. The Canucks took a season-high 46 shots, while the Kraken took 27.
Bruins 5, Avalanche 1
A trio of second-period goals lifted Boston to a dominating win over visiting Colorado.
David Pastrnak tallied two goals and an assist, Taylor Hall assisted on three of Boston’s last four goals and Charlie McAvoy (two assists) and Patrice Bergeron (one goal, one assist) also had multiple points. Jeremy Swayman made 28 saves to move to 3-0-1 in his last four starts in the Bruins’ net.
“I think it was the best game of this year, if we’re talking about the full game and 60 minutes,” Pastrnak said. “We just stayed in the moment. We were really energized, and it was a great win for us. A big two points.”
Nathan MacKinnon scored the lone goal for Colorado, which had its streak of seven straight road wins snapped. Cale Makar and Mikko Rantanen assisted MacKinnon’s goal. Despite making 40 saves, Darcy Kuemper dropped his first regulation decision after a franchise-record 16-0-2 run.
–Field Level Media contributed to this report