The Montreal Canadiens' victory on Monday will certainly have a bitter taste as they lost the services of their leading scorer.
Kirby Dach scored the game-winning goal in a shootout and Montreal beat the Calgary Flames 2-1 at the Bell Centre.
Dach scored with a shot to the top of the slot. Jake Allen then frustrated Nazem Kadri.
However, the Tricolore lost the services of forward Cole Caufield four minutes into the second period. Caufield was the victim of hard contact with Flames forward Trevor Lewis.
The two players appeared to see each other at the last moment, and Caufield was thrown violently to the ice.
He did not return to the game.
The Habs announced that Caufield had an upper-body injury.
In 28 games this season, Caufield has 16 goals and nine assists.
Josh Anderson scored in regulation time for the Habs (14-12-2). Allen made 34 saves.
Jonathan Huberdeau generated the Flames' offense (13-11-5). Jacob Markstrom turned aside 37 shots.
The Flames were without forward Elias Lindholm (upper body) and defenceman Mackenzie Weegar (non-VAWC-related illness).
They lost the services of defenceman Chris Tanev in the second period. Tanev was hit in the face by a powerful shot from Nick Suzuki.
The Habs will visit the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday. They will host the Anaheim Ducks at the Bell Centre on Thursday.
TOUGH FIGHT
The Flames opened the scoring while Dach was in the penalty box after he got in the way of Caufield's defence by going after Lewis. Huberdeau took advantage of a rebound to get the strings moving at 5:04.
The Habs then wasted 1:40 of a two-man advantage. Dach and Christian Dvorak were frustrated by Markstrom, while Joel Armia missed an open net.
Anderson brought things to square in the third period. He deflected a beautiful Slafkovsky feed between Markstrom's pads.
Allen then kept the Habs in it by shutting down Kadri on a two-on-one Flames attack with over eight minutes left in the third period.
The Habs were unable to capitalize on four minutes of four-on-three time in overtime when Toffoli was chased for a high stick.
It was finally Dach who settled the shootout.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Dec. 12, 2022.
