Canadiens Lineup

Cole Caufield – Nick Suzuki – Kirby Dach

Juraj Slafkovsky – Sean Monahan – Josh Anderson

Evgenii Dadonov – Christian Dvorak – Joel Armia

Michael Pezzetta – Jake Evans – Chris Wideman

Mike Matheson – David Savard

Joel Edmundson – Kaiden Guhle

Arber Xhekaj – Jordan Harris

Jake Allen – Sam Montembeault

Johnathan Kovacevic, Rem Pitlick

Carey Price (knee), Paul Byron (hip), Mike Hoffman (upper-body), Jonathan Drouin (upper-body), Brendan Gallagher (lower-body)

Game Report

With 45 saves, Canadiens goaltender Jake Allen was named the first star of the game by the attending media. Given that Allen had lost his last two starts giving up a total of 10 goals, it was a much needed confidence boost for the veteran. Allen had not won since November 19th against Philadelphia.

Take nothing away from Allen but this game belonged to Sean Monahan. The 28-year-old centre was making his first visit to Calgary wearing an opposition sweater. The former sixth overall pick by the Flames in 2013 was given a warm reception by the Scotiabank Saddledome fans.

But it almost didn’t happen. Monahan left practice early and arrived for the game wearing a walking boot. When asked post-game, Monahan said that he wouldn’t have missed “this one for the world.”

And it was Monahan who got the ball rolling early for the Canadiens. Just 1:33 from the opening puck drop, Monahan cleared the path (including Jacob Markstrom) for Juraj Slafkovsky’s fourth goal of the season. With the Flames goaltender out of the net, the rookie’s shot simply had to beat two Calgary defensemen.

Monahan was also instrumental in setting up Cole Caufield’s power-play goal, the game-winner scored in the third period. That’s all the scoring the Canadiens would need in this game. Beyond that, it was all Flames with Calgary have a lopsided advantage in shots (46-19) and high-danger scoring chances at 5-on-5 (14-4.)

But perhaps it was Monahan’s teammates who paid him the ultimate tribute delaying the regular victory song — “I Won’t Back Down” by Tom Petty — giving priority to “Mony, Mony” by Billy Idol.

Up Next

For tonight all of the questions about ‘will he or won’t he be traded?’ and ‘will he fetch another first round pick?’ are set aside, but sooner or later conversations about the future of Season Monahan will intensify.

Kaiden Guhle was helped to the dressing room in the last minute of play after blocking a shot. He is not expected to miss the next game.

The Canadiens head north to Edmonton for a Saturday night matchup with the Oilers. 

Plus

Minus

Game Preview