After a goalless first period, the Calgary Flames opened the scoring in the first minutes of the second period, thanks to Connor Zary. He scored his third of the season following a lucky situation, taking advantage of Emil Heineman’s fall and a generous good to hit the target. Note that, each time Sainte-Flanelle conceded the first goal this season, it failed to achieve victory.
Dustin Wolf was uncompromising in the first period, but came close to making a mistake during an innocuous action at the start of the second, when the puck almost deceived his vigilance and benefited Cole Caufield. However, he quickly rectified his mistake by controlling the puck under his pads.
The Canadiens’ offense showed two very different faces between the first and second thirds. After directing 15 shots on the visitors’ net in the first, Martin St-Louis’ team was only able to send five in the second. However, despite a reduced volume, Brendan Gallagher managed to beat the goalkeeper, well positioned in the slot and showing patience to wait for Wolf to commit. This goal came while the CH was in numerical superiority. This is his fifth of the season and his 223rd of his career. With this achievement, he joined Peter Mahovlich in 20th place in the history of the Habs in this chapter.
In the faceoff circle, we note a clear improvement compared to the last matches. After two periods against the Flames, the Sainte-Flanelle players won 59.6% of faceoffs. Since the start of the season, the Bleu-Blanc-Rouge has an efficiency rate of 47.6%, ranking 25th in the NHL. It seems that Marc Bureau’s visit to training on Monday is already bearing fruit.
So, at the end of the second third, the score is 1-1.
Canada
