Gaudreau, Flames blow out Canadiens for 8th straight victory
CALGARY, Alberta - Johnny Gaudreau had a goal and three assists, and the Calgary Flames beat the Montreal Canadiens 5-0 on Thursday night for their eighth straight win.
Brian Elliott had 24 saves for his first shutout of the season. After assisting on all three second-period goals as the Flames blew open a 1-0 game, Gaudreau added his 14th goal at 16:12 of the third period.
Gaudreau has 13 points (three goals, 10 assists) during the Flames' win streak. It's the longest streak for Calgary since it also won eight in a row in November 2005.
Mark Giordano, Sean Monahan, Michael Stone and Micheal Ferland also scored for Calgary (37-26-4), which visits Winnipeg on Saturday.
Montreal (38-22-8) had won six in a row. The Canadiens were without goaltender Carey Price (flu), who was supposed to start for the 10th time in the last 11 games but instead served as the backup to Al Montoya - although he didn't appear on the bench.
Montoya had 33 stops.
Elliott, playing his finest hockey of the season, improved to 11-1-1 in his last 13 starts. He has a .931 save percentage over that span. He is 19-13-3 on the season.
Stone made it 2-0 in the second when he scored through a crowd from the blue line. It was his first goal since joining Calgary in a trade with the Arizona Coyotes on Feb. 20.
Stone left early in the third. He appeared to be favoring his shoulder. The Flames also lost defenseman Dougie Hamilton to an undisclosed injury late in the second period.
There were no updates available.
Calgary made it 4-0 on goals 26 seconds apart late in the second. Monahan fired in his team-leading 22nd goal after Stone's shot didn't get through. Then Ferland got his 14th goal, whipping a shot into the top corner.
NOTES: Calgary's franchise record win streak is 10 in a row from Oct. 14 to Nov. 3, 1978, while the team was in Atlanta. ... Montreal's Claude Julien coached his 1,007th game, tying him with Jacques Demers for 25th on the NHL's career list.
UP NEXT:
Canadiens: Visit Edmonton on Sunday night.
Flames: Visit Winnipeg on Saturday night.