Chad Johnson, Flames shut out Blue Jackets

COLUMBUS -- Chad Johnson made 34 saves for his sixth NHL shutout and the Calgary Flames defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets 2-0 at Nationwide Arena on Wednesday.
"They came pretty hard," Johnson said. "We knew they were going to throw everything at the net and there's going to be some scrums. There were times we were on our heels but we still stuck together, we still battled."
Troy Brouwer and Micheal Ferland scored for the Flames (9-12-1), who have won four of six.

WATCH: All Flames vs. Blue Jackets highlights
Johnson, who had a 27-save shutout at the Minnesota Wild on Nov. 15, made 15 saves in the second period. He had four in the last 1:33 of the third when Columbus (10-5-3) had a 6-on-4 advantage with an extra attacker and a power play.
"We were on the outside all night long. Chad saw every shot," Columbus coach John Tortorella said. "I thought our first period was good. From then it went downhill. I really liked our start. Johnson made a couple of key saves. That's when we generated most of our chances. From there we did squat."

Sergei Bobrovsky made 18 saves for Columbus, which was shut out for the first time this season and lost for the first time in regulation in six games (4-1-1).
Ferland got his fourth goal of the season at 6:25 of the third on the power play for a 2-0 lead. Dennis Wideman made the play happen when he stole the puck from Markus Hannikainen at the blue line and fed Ferland in the right circle.
Brouwer scored his fifth goal at 6:35 of the second when he took advantage of a turnover by Columbus defenseman Seth Jones. Brouwer intercepted the clearance in the neutral zone and raced into the Columbus end before passing left to Kris Versteeg, who sent the puck back to Brouwer.
The goal came after the Flames, 29th in the NHL on the penalty kill, skated off a double-minor to Matthew Tkachuk for high sticking.

Goal of the game

Veteran defenseman Wideman schooled Hannikainen by taking the puck before the rookie could get out of the zone during a Blue Jackets' penalty kill. Ferland finished the play with a wrist shot for a 2-0 lead.

Save of the game

Johnson made a glove save nine minutes into the second period to deny Cam Atkinson on a breakaway.

Unsung moment of the game

The Flames faced a four-minute penalty kill in a scoreless game against the NHL's best power play early in the second and did not allow a goal. Calgary took the lead soon after.

Highlight of the game

Brouwer scored the winning goal in the second period but it was Versteeg's mastery with the puck that led to the perfect set-up in front. Versteeg wheeled around defenseman Seth Jones with a between-the-legs pass to himself before finding Brouwer at the crease.

They said it

"We didn't execute as well as we should of, especially early on. You look at the shots, I think we were fooling ourselves a little bit. A lot of them were on the outside. We didn't penetrate as a team. That's how we have success and we didn't do that tonight." -- Blue Jackets forward Nick Foligno
"We turned the corner after he stopped that breakaway in the second. We know it wasn't pretty before that, but then we started getting pucks deep and putting shots on net and we played a solid third period." -- Flames forward Matt Stajan on Chad Johnson's save on Cam Atkinson
"The power play, even if we're not scoring we want to create momentum. Tonight we weren't on our game. They're a tight-checking team. We didn't get too many set ups and good looks." --Blue Jackets forward Brandon Saad
"As the game went on I felt more and more comfortable until Brouwer decided to take me out for a little bit. It was a little scary at the moment." -- Flames forward Kris Versteeg, who returned after missing nine games with a groin injury, on colliding at center ice with teammate Troy Brouwer

Need to know

Columbus had seven giveaways. The Flames had one. … Blue Jackets forward Matt Calvert did not play because of an upper-body injury. He was replaced by Hannikainen, who was recalled earlier Wednesday from the Cleveland Monsters of the American Hockey League. Calvert is a game shy of 300 in his NHL career. … Flames forward Sam Bennett played his 100th NHL game.

What's next

Flames: At the Boston Bruins on Friday (7:30 p.m. ET; NESN, SNW, NHL.TV)
Blue Jackets: At the Tampa Bay Lightning on Friday (7:30 p.m. ET; SUN, FS-O, NHL.TV)