CALGARY — Mike Matheson scored the overtime winner on Wednesday when the Montreal Canadiens won 2-1 over the struggling Calgary Flames.
Zachary Bolduc also scored for Montreal (6-2-0), which has won six of seven after a season-opening loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Adam Klapka scored the lone goal for Calgary (1-6-1), which has gone seven games without a win after defeating the Edmonton Oilers in its season-opener.
In a goaltending duel, Montreal rookie Jakub Dobes made 36 saves to earn the win and improve to a perfect 4-0-0.
Dustin Wolf, runner-up last year for the NHL’s Calder Trophy for rookie of the year, had 26 stops. He fell to 1-5-1.
Both goalies were busy all night, with Dobes facing the highest quantity of chances, but Wolf staring down the higher quality of chances.
Montreal led 1-0 heading into the third period when the Flames tied it at 5:56. Klapka capitalized on a Noah Dobson turnover in front, stealing the puck and scoring five-hole.
Takeaways
Canadiens: Bolduc continues to shine in his first season with the Canadiens. His four goals were just one back of Cole Caufield for the team lead. The 22-year-old winger was acquired from St. Louis on July 1 in a swap of 2021 first-round picks that sent defenceman Logan Mailloux the other way. Bolduc scored 19 goals with the Blues last year in his first full NHL season.
Flames: Calgary’s anemic offence continued to be front and centre with its NHL-worst 13 goals also a franchise worst mark through eight games. In the Flames’ 1972-73 expansion season, when the team was in Atlanta, they had 13 goals through their first eight games.
Key Moment
Possession was all Montreal in overtime and the Canadiens were able to make a line change while Calgary’s skaters tired. The winning goal came when Ivan Demidov spotted Matheson speeding in on the far side and wired a pass through the slot for Matheson to one-time in the open side.
Key Stat
Since the NHL started tracking shots on goal in 1959-60, the record for the worst team shooting percentage in a season is 6.9 per cent by the 2014-15 Arizona Coyotes. Through eight games, the Flames were at 5.5 per cent. The next-worst team was the New York Rangers (7.0).
UP NEXT
Canadiens: Visit the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday.
Flames: Travel to Winnipeg to take on the Jets on Friday.
