Rather quietly, the Calgary Flames’ Johnny Gaudreau has been scoring and piling up points. On Monday night Gaudreau scored and picked up two points in a 4-1 win over the Capitals, in Washington.
Johnny Gaudreau of the Calgary Flames has a 10-game point streak and helped the Flames burn the Caps Monday night with a goal and assist – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
He now has a point-streak of 10 games.
“It’s cool. Our line’s playing well, we’re not giving up goals in the defensive zone, we’re creating chances in the offensive zone,” Gaudreau said. “We’re playing well on the power play. Things go well for you at times, and then throughout the season you go through some ups and downs. Right now, it’s going good for us.”
The power play worked well for the Flames as they potted two off the man advantage and added another as the power play ended.
Sean Monahan and Mikael Backlund scored on the powerand Mark Giordano had the goal as a third power play ended.
Lars Eller had the lone for the Caps who dropped to a 11-10-1.
“We continue like that, then we’re going to continue hovering around .500,” Eller said. “Win a game here and there. We’ve got to play with a lot more determination. The playoff race is tight. It’s November, but the playoff race is right now.”
Gaudreau received praise for his all-around game from his coach after the win.
“What a coach likes more is his backcheck on [Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin] that lifted the stick,” Flames head coach Glen Gulutzan said. “I know he’s going to get points because he’s just that gifted, but his commitment to winning just shows itself night in, night out. I love that he’s on the roll. You want him to stay on the roll.”
Mike Smith made 29 saves to pick up the win.
“He’s (Smith) an elite goalie. There’s no other way to say it. He’s an elite goalie. He’s one of the top goalies. There’s no question about it in my mind,” Gulutzan said.
[WATCH: All Flames vs. Capitals highlights]
Braden Holtby made 35 saves in taking the loss.
“They took the game over. All of a sudden, it was tough to get any free ice to skate on. We either didn’t execute well enough or work hard enough to get enough sustained pressure to really be dangerous. It was just kind of a blah game for us,” the Caps’ Matt Niskanen said after the loss.
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