In Toronto Monday night, Sean Monahan and Elias Lindholm struck for the Calgary Flames in a 55-second span to break open a scoreless tie early in the third period.
The outburst sent the Flames to a 3-1 win over the Maple Leafs.
“I thought we worked hard, we had a good start to the game, which we haven’t had in some of our past games,” Monahan said. “We stepped it up, and we have to start earning wins by ourselves. I think tonight was a big win for us, and we have to keep that rolling.”
Mike Smith made 24 saves to get the win.
Mike Smith made 24 saves in win over Toronto Monday night – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
Nazem Kadri scored the Leafs only goal for the Leafs when he beat Smith to cut the deficit to 2-1.
“They were a lot better than us tonight, we didn’t deserve to win that game. We’ll just call that a wash, move on, and worry about the next one,” Kadri said. “Their gaps were great — right on top of our guys coming through the neutral zone — just seemed like a pain in the [butt] every time. They made it tough on us and certainly congested the neutral-zone area. That was the difference.”
The win snapped an ugly three-game losing streak.
“It’s probably the best defensively, the best game we’ve played all season,” Smith said. “Last game (a 4-3 shootout loss to the Washington Capitals on Oct. 27), we were close, but tonight we even built on that. There’s a standard now set, and I think we realize the difference between Pittsburgh and tonight, and we just have to keep pushing forward now.”
The Flames improved to 6-5-1 with the win.
“I thought we were great defensively,” Calgary’s Mark Giordano said. “Honestly, they’re a great team, we know what they’ve been doing all year, but they had one good shift in the second at the end, and until they got those power plays late, I think we were doing a good job of shutting them down.”
Michael Frolik closed out the scoring with an empty net goal late.
[WATCH: All Flames vs. Maple Leafs highlights]
Frederik Andersen made 31 saves as the Leafs dropped to 8-4-0.
“I think just all around we didn’t play very well,” John Tavares said. “We just didn’t execute and just got away from some of the things we do well. They came out hard, ready to play and took advantage of our mistakes.”
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