Calgary Flames claim victory over Stars in playoff series opener
Global News
Elias Lindholm scored the lone goal for the Calgary Flames on Tuesday in a 1-0 win to open their playoff series against the Dallas Stars.
Elias Lindholm scored the lone goal for the Calgary Flames on Tuesday in a 1-0 win to open their playoff series against the Dallas Stars.
Game 2 in the best-of-seven series is Thursday at the Saddledome before heading to American Airlines Center for Saturday’s Game 3 and Monday’s Game 4.
Lindholm scored a power-play goal early in the first period. Jacob Markstrom stopped all 16 shots he faced in front of a Saddledome sellout for his second career playoff shutout.
The playoff win was just Calgary’s second at the Saddledome since 2015.
Dallas starter Jake Oettinger turned away 25-of-26 shots for the loss in his NHL playoff debut.
Calgary (50-21-11) topped the Pacific Division, while the Stars (46-30-6) entered the playoffs via the Western Conference’s first wild-card berth.
Calgary led 1-0 after a dominant opening period. The Flames held the Stars to three shots, and the first didn’t happen until 11:05.
Both clubs had to absorb the loss of key defencemen at the end of the first period when Calgary’s Rasmus Andersson and Dallas’s John Klingberg were served game misconducts for fighting at the buzzer.