The Calgary Flames don’t need Jacob Markstrom to pitch a shutout every night.
No, they have Dan Vladar to fill in the gps when Markstrom needs a break.
On Sunday, Vladar made 27 and the Flames burned the Bruins in Boston, 4-0.
“I just came here with the mindset to get a [win],” said Vladar, who was 2-2-1 as a rookie with Boston last season. “I was just fighting for our team. … I was really trying to focus on my game and on our game. … The shutout, if you would have told me that yesterday, I wouldn’t have believed it.”
Johnny Gaudreau scored in the opening frame for a 1-0 lead to Calgary.
With the win, Calgary improved to 10-3-5.
“We know what Calgary’s all about, even though they’re not in our division. … They’ve got seven shutouts for a reason,” Boston head coach Bruce Cassidy said. “The top guys did not have a good night in any area of the game, and that’s an area that could have helped us. … We have an identity, but we’re still working on it to be that team every single night.”
Vladar has two shutouts on the year, Markstrom has five.
Boston dropped to 9-6-0.
Noah Hanifin doubled the Calgary lead with a strike in the middle frame.
“For me individually, it’s always fun coming back home and playing Boston,” Hanifin said. “… To get the win and play the way we did as a team was great. Obviously coming into a tough building like Boston, it’s huge to get the first two goals. That helped us out a little bit.”
The Flames’ Andrew Mangiapane stretched the lead to 3-0 with an early shorthanded goal in the third period.
Mikael Backlund scired in the fifth minute of the third period for the 4-0 final.
Jeremy Swayman made 27 saves in the Boston loss.
“We hate to lose at home,” Swayman said. “It’s a super big disappointment, but they’re a good team. They work hard and play the right way. So [we] take the positives from this game and move on. … You try to battle and work hard.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.