After two dismal losses to the Edmonton Oilers, the Calgary Flames pulled into Toronto to face off with the hottest team in the NHL, the Maple Leafs.
No, don’t write the “L” with ink.
David Rittich made 34 saves and the Flames blanked the Maple Leafs, 3-0, in the most surprising outcome in weeks in the league.
“I was ready, I kind of thought there was a chance I was going to play, so I prepared myself yesterday to play,” Rittich said. “I felt pretty good, and the team did a really good job helping me with the rebounds, a lot of blocked shots. You could really see the team effort.”
Calgary had lost their last game, 7-1, to the Oilers, in Edmonton.
“Unreal. He was feeling it there,” Calgary’s Matthew Tkachuk said. “He was confident, calm, everything you want to see from a goalie. Can’t say enough great things about him.”
Tkachuk, Sam Bennett and Sean Monahan were the Flames’ strikers.
“Our guys are comfortable playing in front of David, they’ve got confidence in him, and obviously he’s feeling it again, which is great,” Calgary head coach Geoff Ward said. “And it couldn’t have come at a more opportune time for us and for him.”
Auston Matthews had his hot streak end in the loss.
“We didn’t really have a lot of jump to start the game, and they played very desperate tonight,” Matthews said. “Things hadn’t really been going the way they wanted to lately and they definitely came out with a purpose. We didn’t really have any pushback.”
The Maple Leafs’ offense was listless, going scoreless in seven power play chances.
“I thought our team played like one that was expecting things to go bad and not go our way rather than making it go our way, so I didn’t like our mindset in that sense,” Toronto head coach Sheldon Keefe said. “This was our 20th game of the season tonight, so I think we’ve shown this is not us.”
Michael Hutchinson made 29 saves in the loss.
“I got told early in the day and had plenty of time to prepare and get ready like any other game day,” Hutchinson said.
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