In Calgary Wednesday night, the Flames scored three in the first period to take a 3-0 lead and went on to defeat the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs by the same score.
Freddie Hamilton and Kris Versteeg scored within the first minute of the game to take the Leafs out of the game.
Chad Johnson (#31) – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
“Our guys knew that they had to come out hard,” Calgary coach Glen Gulutzan said. “It’s something to build on. Now we have some footing here where we’ve got to start putting it together. We’ve done it on the road. We have to start doing it here (at home).”
Chad Johnson stopped all 39 shots he faced on the night for the shutout, his career seventh.
Matt Stajan added a goal before the first 20 minutes were over.
WATCH: All Maple Leafs vs. Flames highlights
While the Leafs did recover a bit after the first period, they were clearly off their game for the entire match.
“I just think we weren’t ready or prepared to play,” Toronto’s Auston Matthews said. “Our focus wasn’t there. When you’re playing back-to-back, obviously you’re going to be tired, but you’ve got to push through that and you’ve got to be smart out there, and we weren’t smart.”
Jhonas Enroth made 26 saves in taking the loss and was victimized by perfect passing and tip ins on the first two goals.
Hamilton’s goal came from the mid slot and was one-timed off the feed leaving Enroth will little chance to see the puck or stop it.
“Having a back-to-back, especially having won the first one, we were feeling pretty good about ourselves and ready. I don’t know what it was, but we obviously weren’t ready to play tonight, and it obviously cost us early,” the Maple Leafs Jake Gardiner said.
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