CALGARY — Matvei Gridin scored twice and added an assist as the Calgary Flames beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-2 on Monday night at Scotiabank Saddledome.
It was Calgary's fourth straight win and it finished a perfect homestand. Toronto had won the previous eight meetings between the teams.
Gridin opened the scoring at 10:05 of the first period on a stretch play. Simon Nemec started it from below his own goal line, hitting Martin Pospisil with a long pass that took the Flames from their own end to centre in one shot. Pospisil spun and moved it across the ice to Gridin, who took it at the red line at full speed with all five Leafs caught on the far side. Gridin fought off a stick check, got to the bottom of the faceoff circle and went short side on Sergei Bobrovsky, right up by his ear.
Two minutes later it was 2-0. Toronto worked the puck around the boards in their own zone and did not move it quickly enough, and Joel Farabee took it away. He fed Matt Coronato in the slot, and Coronato's fake shot froze the Leafs for a fraction of a second, everyone expecting the shot, before he found Mikael Backlund on the near side. The captain finished upstairs, blocker side on Bobrovsky, from close range at 11:50.
Both of Calgary's first two goals beat Bobrovsky high on the blocker side.
Devin Cooley held the lead late in the first. On a Toronto power play, William Nylander got the puck down to Kirill Marchenko at the side of the net for what looked like a tap-in, and Cooley got his right pad extended and stole it.
Gridin made it 3-0 on a power play 25 seconds into the second period, on a play that started with his own goaltender. Cooley stopped a Toronto rim around the boards and left it for Zayne Parekh, who snapped it down the left wing boards to Gridin. Gridin ripped it from just above the faceoff dot, top corner on the glove side, a release so quick Bobrovsky was frozen. Gridin celebrated with the Griddy.
"It all starts with us playing the right way," Gridin said. "Because we played the right way, we can afford to do some fun stuff with the puck. Just four in a row, we are playing great hockey right now, just keep doing that."
Toronto got on the board at 12:54 of the second. Troy Stecher's shot from the right point was redirected in front by Easton Cowan for his sixth goal of the season.
The Leafs pushed in the third and got within one at 6:05, when the puck bounced around the Calgary end and Nylander put it in from the side of the net. Toronto kept coming but could not solve Cooley again.
Toronto pulled Bobrovsky and Calgary closed it out with two empty net goals. Farabee scored at 18:35 after his first shot was blocked by Darren Raddysh and he got to his own rebound. Martin Pospisil scored at 19:21, hitting the empty net from inside his own zone on a play that started with Nemec on the wall to Gridin.
Cooley made 26 saves for the win. Bobrovsky stopped 29 of the 32 shots he faced. Gridin was the game's first star with two goals and an assist, and Nemec, Pospisil, Farabee and Coronato each had two points for Calgary.
Head coach Ryan Huska said the confidence has been building. “I think we look like a faster team right now because we’re doing things the right way,” Huska said. “We’re playing a simpler brand of hockey and it’s resulting in more opportunities, and the guys are now having success, so you can see the confidence starting to grow.”
The Flames are in Edmonton on Wednesday for the Battle of Alberta.
This recap is brought to you in part by Animas Painting — interior and exterior painting in Calgary. Reach Rafael at 403-604-5529.