The Calgary Flames fell 4-1 to the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday night in what was a low event, one-sided affair at the Bell Center.
Scoreless through the first period, Canadiens winger Alex Texier found the back of the net on a near side snipe just 3:10 into the second period. 3:55 of game time later, Montreal recorded their second. With sustained pressure and a collapsed Calgary defence, Lane Hutson picked up a centering pass and launched a five-hole rocket past goaltender dustin Wolf.
Shortly after that, rookie forward Oliver Kapanen capitalized on a net-front breakdown to put Montreal up 3-1.
After a bit of sustained play to calm down the Canadiens offence, Joel Farabee snuck a low-glove wrist shot past Jacob Fowler to give the Flames their first goal of the night.
In need of insurance, Canadiens star sniper Cole Caufield rocketed a wrist shot over Wolf’s left shoulder to make the game 4-1 3:56 into the third period.
With less than five minutes on the clock, Flames center Nazem Kadri picked a spot above Fowler’s glove off the rush to bring the game to 4-2. The play was successfully challenged by Montreal as offside.
Top Performers
Arber Xhekaj
What the Flames lacked in offence, they brought in physicality to start the game. 24-year-old Arber Xhekaj did some solid physical work to quell that energy before things settled down.
The Hamilton, Ontario product finished the game with six hits.
Lane Hutson
Less tranlatable on the scoresheet, 21-year-old defenceman Lane Hutson was the glue for the Canadiens disruptive transition attack.
Despite finishing with just one shot and one goal, Hutson served as a dominating breakout quarterback, outscoring the Flames 4-1 at five-on-five.
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