You had to wonder what the response would be.
Would the buzz and emotion of a spirited Battle of Alberta victory some 48 hours earlier spill over, or would the task in La Belle Province be a tall one with heavy legs after a long flight east?
With the loss, the Flames' five-game winning streak comes to an end, and their overall record drops to 25-18-5.
The Flames were under siege in the early going, surrendering 12 of the first 13 shots of the game, including three on a threatening Montreal powerplay midway through.
Rittich, though, was up to the task in a big way, stopping every puck thrown his way. His best of the dozen came hot off the stick of Jordan Weal, who showed some finesse on a give-and-go with Ilya Kovalchuk, before gunning a shot in tight.
The game leveled out in the moments afterward, but the Habs put their foot back on the accelerator and potted the icebreaker at 13:30.
Jeff Petry snuck down from the point and was the beneficiary of a Dale Weise feed in the middle, but after holding onto it and pulling the D off course, his wraparound try was foiled on the near side. However, the bouncing puck landed right on the stick of Weal, and the Vancouver native made no mistake with a nice turnaround move, ripping it five-hole to score his fifth of the year.
Shots favoured the Canadiens 17-7 after one.
It was more of the same in the front half of the second, as the Flames' offence failed to gain traction. Rittich, who had a bead on everything tossed his way, thwarted the onslaught with a pair of dandy stops off Phillip Danault on a Canadiens powerplay, 10 minutes in. Stopped on the initial, high-slot redirect, Danault collected the rebound and tried to pry it home on the backhand, but Rittich kicked out the left pad and kept it a 1-0 game.
