In Calgary, the Flames’ Elias Lindholm scored with five minutes gone in the game on Tuesday night to give Calgary a 1-0 lad over the Dallas Stars.
The two teams played even the remaining 55 minutes in a 1-0 decision for the Flames over the Stars.
“It’s always nice to help the team that way, but overall from our side, I think we can play better,” Lindholm said. “Our line (Lindholm, Tkachuk, Johnny Gaudreau), there was not much going on out there. It was a tight game. Both teams played good defensively. There wasn’t a lot going on out there, but we found a way.”
Calgary took a 1-0 series lead in their first Stanley Cup Playoff series.
“I think it was an emotional game, a tight checking game, but it’s just one game,” Calgary’s Blake Coleman said. “I said it going into the playoffs, it’s going to be a marathon, not a sprint. We have to find ways to learn from our mistakes in these games and then find ways to build on things we did well and obviously that will be what we work on tomorrow. I’m sure the staff will have us prepared and ready to go for Game 2.
“But I think that’s the beauty of this team; we can play whatever way you want. We can rough it up a little bit, we can make plays, we can defend, we have great goaltending. Whatever the game calls for, we can meet that challenge.”
Jacob Markstrom made 16 saves for the shutout win.
“He was solid,” Calgary’s Erik Gudbranson said of Markstrom. “He was really solid. There were moments in the game when he needed to be sticky and he was sticky and got a whistle for us. I mean, we trust him. He’s a great goaltender.”
Lindholm’s goal came off an early power play.
“They won 1-0 with the power play goal,” Dallas’ Michael Raffl said. “That was the difference tonight. Five-on-5, I think it was pretty even. I had the feeling we were comfortable playing 5-on-5 against them.”
The two teams played an otherwise even-up match despite the atmosphere in Calgary.
“I thought they came out flying. The building was electric,” Raffl said. “It was an awesome atmosphere to be in. They took it to us, especially the first 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, the bench calmed down and you get used to the speed because it was fast. They were good in the first.”
Jake Oettinger made 25 saves in the Dallas loss.
“You can’t get too high or too low in the playoffs here,” Oettinger said. “I think we feel that we didn’t play our best game and we lost 1-0, so I think we should feel confident about that. I know the guys are going to respond and play even better the next game.”
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