Vladar gets first NHL shutout for Flames against Senators

OTTAWA --Dan Vladar made 27 saves for the Calgary Flames in a 4-0 win against the Ottawa Senators at the Canadian Tire Centre on Sunday.

"From the get go, we were just the better team," Vladar said. "More focused. And the guys played great in front of me. I had no rebounds. So, easy game for me."
It was Vladar's first NHL shutout in his ninth career start.
"First off, they're tough starts," Calgary coach Darryl Sutter said of Vladar's workload. "[Being] that No. 2 guy or the classic backup guy, they're tough starts. That's part of it. That's part of maturing as an NHL player. He's showing that as we go. We're still learning lots about him, but he's learning how we want him to play, too."
Elias Lindholm had a goal and an assist, and Matthew Tkachuk scored for the Flames (8-3-4), who got their first win in four games.

Anton Forsberg made 29 saves for the Senators (4-10-1), who have one win in their past seven games (1-5-1).
After going 77 games with at least one goal, the Senators were shut out for the second time in three games.
"We weren't our sharpest, especially our top guys, and that's understandable," Ottawa coach D.J. Smith said. "I thought we did have some good efforts, but at the end of the day, they just overwhelmed us with their four lines and six defensemen]."
The Senators have 10 players in NHL COVID-19 protocol: forwards
[Drake Batherson
,
Austin Watson
,
Alex Formenton
,
Dylan Gambrell
and Connor Brown, defensemen
Nick Holden
,
Victor Mete
,
Nikita Zaitsev
and
Josh Brown
, and goalie Matt Murray.
"You know what the difference is in this league? Goaltending, star power, depth," Sutter said. "So if you go over there to their team and ask their coaches, they'd wish they had their goalie, they have their stars and they're testing their depth. [COVID-19] has run through teams lots. It did it last year, too."
Andrew Mangiapane tipped a Sean Monahan shot to give the Flames a 1-0 lead at 16:07 of the first.

Lindholm tipped Rasmus Andersson's fluttering wrist shot from the point to make it 2-0 at 4:51 of the second.
Matthew Tkachuk took a cross-slot pass from Lindholm and lifted it over Forsberg's outstretched glove on the power play to make it 3-0 at 9:18.
"They worked hard tonight, but I thought we worked smarter," Matthew Tkachuk said. "We had the puck more, we played in their zone more, played solid defensively in front of Dan and he was there to bail us out when we had issues."
Nikita Zadorov's wrist shot from the top of the right face-off circle beat Forsberg blocker side to make it 4-0 at 1:56 of the third.
"Quite frankly we just weren't good enough tonight, just everybody," Ottawa forward Brady Tkachuk said. "We didn't play the game we wanted to tonight, so we have to learn from this."
The Flames are 1-1-1 three games into a seven-game road trip.
"I think physically we were really, really engaged," Sutter said. "Those [previous] two games in Montreal and Toronto are hard games. They take a lot out of your team. Besides the travel, they're hard games to play. So this is a really good gut check for our team. They did a really good job. Mentally, they're probably not as sharp as they need to be, but physically they were really good."
NOTES: The Flames' six road wins are tied with the Minnesota Wild and New York Rangers for the most in the NHL. … Batherson, who leads Ottawa with 16 points (seven goals, nine assists), entered COVID-19 protocol a couple hours before puck drop. … Forward Andrew Agozzino had one shot in in 6:52 in his Senators debut.