Jacob Markstrom’s performance gives Flames hope that he’ll return to form

MONTREAL — The Calgary Flames should have been dead in that overtime period against the Montreal Canadiens. Dead in the water.

It felt like deja vu when Tyler Toffoli got called for a double-minor high-sticking call in overtime against the Montreal Canadiens Monday night, even if it took more than three seconds for the penalty to be called. The Flames were already in tough entering their Monday nighter as Elias Lindholm and MacKenzie Weegar were both scratched due to an injury and a non-COVID illness. Chris Tanev taking a puck to the neck made matters worse, sending the Flames down to five defencemen. Perhaps if they played another opponent on this night, the Flames would have been blown out and an overtime period wouldn’t have been necessary.

But Jacob Markstrom, in his second appearance on the Flames’ road trip, was sure and steady when they needed him to be. The Canadiens swarmed him and he made save after save, showing why he was considered Vezina-calibre in the first place. The Canadiens’ power play struggled all night but they had four minutes to beat Markstrom while keeping the puck in the offensive zone. Nick Suzuki and Christian Dvorak combining on a give-and-go wasn’t enough. Joel Armia, parked in front of goal, whacked away at chances to no avail.

What should have been a bitter end for Markstrom in overtime, similar to what Dan Vladar experienced against the Maple Leafs on Saturday night, was instead the most promising sign that the Flames’ starting goaltender was looking like his old self. If it wasn’t for a shootout that saw Nick Suzuki and Kirby Dach beat him, Markstrom emerges victorious instead of a loser in a 2-1 loss.

But, surely, this performance that saw Markstrom make 37 saves — an improved follow-up from his 26-save game against the Blue Jackets on Friday — should bring him some confidence, right?

“No, not really,” Markstrom said. “A loss is a loss. Got to be better. Got to be better than the other goalie and got to let in fewer goals than the other goalie. That’s my job and that’s what it’s about.”

You can call Markstrom an eternal realist. He is not the type to talk himself up when he loses — the day we find any NHLer who does that consistently, we might have to examine their brain for science. Markstrom will not find the silver lining in his performance until he wins. But while he won’t admit it, his last two efforts are genuinely promising. The Flames found themselves battling more adversity through their inability to score consistently, whether at even strength or on the power play. The Flames’ penalty kill could use a break, having had to fend off 20 different power-play opportunities over the last three games.

“These penalties — all our least penalized guys,” Flames head coach Darryl Sutter said. “Noah (Hanifin) went from being our least penalized guy to one of our (most) in the last three games.”

Markstrom still stood tall. He ended the game with a .974 save percentage, the best in any game he’s had all season long. His game against Columbus on Friday saw him end the night with a .923 save percentage, one of his top-five best postings of the season. Per MoneyPuck.com, Markstrom had a 4.92 goals saved above expected rate. It is a small sample size against two teams who likely won’t see the postseason and don’t have the same experience, and to some extent, the same quality as the Flames have. But the Flames need Markstrom to perform well against anyone, and he has in those two games.

“He keeps us in the game,” Flames forward Jonathan Huberdeau said. “In overtime, I mean, he’s getting a lot of shots. Made some huge saves during the game. I’m sure he was disappointed in the shootout. But at the end of the day, he gave us a big chance to win that game. He played a hell of a game.

It also gives validation to the Flames’ efforts to give Markstrom a rest when they did. He is much farther along than nearly two weeks ago when he straight up told the media that he “sucked”. Vladar was able to get his games in while helping to give the Flames a boost. If Markstrom continues to play at the high level he is at, he will be closer to a win.

“He was awesome tonight,” Andersson said. “We have a lot of confidence in Marky. He’s a great goalie and he showed that tonight, for sure.”

A scary moment occurred when Tanev tried to block a shot from Suzuki partway through the game. Tanev is capable of playing through many a painful injury, and is even recognized as the team’s “toughest player”. So, when it took him a bit of time to get up after taking a shot to his neck, you knew something had to be wrong.

“I know the feeling and I know the sound,” Sutter said, who himself took a puck off his face during a January 1984 game, leading to a fractured cheekbone and damage to his left eye.

“It’s scary when you see Chris go down like that,” teammate Rasmus Andersson said. “It’s scary when you see anyone go down. Especially when it’s someone on your team.”

Per the Flames, Tanev was sent to a local hospital but left after negative tests and was cleared to travel back to Calgary with his team. Following the game, as media shuffled to the visitors’ locker room to speak to players, Tanev walked around on his own two feet — a distinct change from when he was helped off the ice, visibly shaken, after taking the Suzuki shot.

“You never want to see that,” Huberdeau said.

Were the Flames inspired in Tanev’s absence? It seems so, according to Sutter, who tried to push his players to battle hard for him. The Flames blocked shots and did what they could to push the game to overtime and were fortunate to get a point in spite of all of their absences.

“Go do it for him,” Sutter said.

(Photo: David Kirouac / USA Today)