The Calgary Flames beat the Dallas Stars 1-0 at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary on Tuesday to open the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs. It was not a busy night for Flames goaltender Jacob Markstrom, who made 16 saves for the shutout.
Markstrom made three saves in the first period, 10 saves in the second period, and three saves in the third period. However, the Flames deserve high praise for playing a very defensive-minded system in limiting opportunities by the opposition. Quite frankly to limit the opposing team to only 16 shots in 60 minutes of action, especially in postseason play, is simply excellent. It also shows those who follow the NHL that the Flames are buying into Darryl Sutter’s coaching strategy and game plan. Sutter is a two-time Stanley Cup champion as a coach with the Los Angeles Kings.
Offensively in game one, the Flames only scored once. Elias Lindholm scored the lone goal. It came at 5:01 of the first period from Matthew Tkachuk and Johnny Gaudreau on the power-play. The goal came after Stars defenseman Jani Hakanpaa was given a two-minute penalty for an illegal check to the head to Flames forward Blake Coleman.
This was Markstrom’s second career playoff shutout. The first was with the Vancouver Canucks in 2020.
