Lindholm scores, DeSimone nets first goal, and Markstrom wins 200th as Flames top Ducks 3-0
Elias Lindholm had a goal and two assists, Jacob Markstrom made 27 saves for his 200th career win and the Calgary Flames extended their winning streak to a season-best three games with a 3-0 victory Thursday night over the Anaheim Ducks.
Nick DeSimone scored his first career goal 2:24 into the opening period and A.J. Greer also scored as the Flames ended a four-game road losing streak.
“I thought it was a complete game and our penalty kill, I can't praise them enough,” said Markstrom after Calgary killed off four Anaheim power plays. “There were how many shot blocks and big-time plays that they do so I think that was a big difference tonight. All four lines were rolling.”
Lukas Dostal made 41 saves for Anaheim, which had won two in a row. Ducks goalie John Gibson was available but occupied a backup role after missing a game this week following the birth of his child.
Forward Mason McTavish and defenseman Jamie Drysdale both returned to the ice for the Ducks. McTavish (upper body) missed the previous seven games and Drysdale (lower body) was out the previous 29 games.
Anaheim fell to 3-14 since Nov. 15 and lost the opener of a season-long eight-game homestand.
“It was a bad night. We couldn't make a pass, we couldn't shot a puck, we were whiffing,” Ducks head coach Greg Cronin said. “I think it was the worst game we played all year in terms of execution. We couldn't shoot a puck, it was squirting off our sticks. We had shots in the slot that we whiffed on.”
DeSimone was trailing the play early in the game when he took a pass from Connor Zary near the blue line and fired a shot from the deep slot past Dostal. The quick score was still a long time coming for the 29-year-old, who delivered in his 17th career game over the past two seasons.
“I finally got the first one out of the way and now everybody can stop talking about it and I can keep going,” DeSimone said.
As a defenseman, DeSimone took as much pride in the shutout, and Markstrom's milestone, has he did his own accomplishment.
“That is what I was thinking about and I'm sure everybody was thinking the same thing,” DeSimone said. “A couple of big (penalty) kills. All the D out there, and all the forwards too, everybody stepped up.”
The Flames made it 2-0 at 7:49 of the second period after shot by the Ducks Brett Leason was blocked by Calgary's Rasmus Andersson. Nazem Kadri sent a centering pass to Lindholm while on the forward rush and he scored his eighth of the season.
Greer scored into an empty net at 18:00 of the third period.
Markstrom made 13 saves in the first period and nine in the second on the way to his first shutout of the season and eighth win. He now has 90 wins in four seasons with the Flames after 99 with the Vancouver Canucks and 11 with the Florida Panthers.
“I didn't know (it was close) until before the game when they told me,” Markstrom said.
The Ducks were without rookie forward Leo Carlsson for the final 9:24 after he went down near center ice with an apparent right leg injury.
“You can see when (MacKenzie) Weegar fell on (Carlsson), any sport where that happens, it's not good,” Cronin said. “I'll leave that up to the medical staff.”
UP NEXT
Flames: At the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday.
Ducks: Home vs. the Seattle Kraken on Saturday.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'Some structural damage' from wildfire near Fort Nelson, B.C., mayor confirms
More than one home has been damaged or lost due to a massive wildfire outside of the B.C. community of Fort Nelson, the mayor confirmed Wednesday.
'Very expensive lunch': Sask. driver says he got a cellphone ticket for using his points app in the drive-thru
A warning from a Saskatoon driver about using your fast-food app while in the drive-thru line — a trip to get some free lunch cost him a lot more than he bargained for.
B.C. YouTuber ordered to pay $350K for 'relentless' online defamation campaign
An 'unrepentant' YouTuber has been ordered to pay $350,000 in damages as compensation for a 'relentless' campaign of defamation waged online against a business owner and his company, the B.C. Supreme Court has ruled.
Chief says grave search at B.C. residential school brings things 'full circle'
Chief Robert Michell says relief isn't the right word to describe his reaction as the search begins for unmarked graves at the site of a former residential school he attended in northern British Columbia.
'Endless Shrimp' just one misstep for Red Lobster as it eyes bankruptcy protection
While it's unclear what these closures might mean for the 27 restaurants in Canada, Red Lobster is expected to file for bankruptcy protection in the U.S. this month.
B.C. man shot sex worker in the back during drug-fuelled birthday, court hears
A man from B.C.'s Lower Mainland has been sentenced to four years behind bars after shooting a sex worker in the back during a drug-fuelled 43rd birthday.
'Inhumane conditions': 68 dogs pulled from Winnipeg home
Nearly six dozen dogs were seized from a home Wednesday morning by the Winnipeg Humane Society. It is the largest known seizure of animals in the city’s history.
Ontario's 'Crypto King' Aiden Pleterski arrested
Of the $40-million Aiden Pleterski was handed over two years, documents show he invested just over one per cent and instead spent $15.9 million on "his personal lifestyle." The 25-year-old Oshawa, Ont. man was arrested and charged with fraud and money laundering on Tuesday.
Driver said he smoked pot oil, took medication before Florida crash that killed 8 Mexican workers
A man with a long record of dangerous driving told investigators he smoked marijuana oil and took prescription drugs hours before he sideswiped a bus, killing eight Mexican farmworkers and injuring dozens more, according to an arrest report unsealed Wednesday.