Matheson's OT goal lifts Canadiens past Flames

CALGARY -- Mike Matheson scored one minute into overtime, and the Montreal Canadiens defeated the Calgary Flames 2-1 at the Scotiabank Saddledome on Wednesday.

Matheson one-timed a pass from rookie forward Ivan Demidov past Dustin Wolf to give the Canadiens their second straight win and sixth in their past seven games.

“It was such a great play by ‘Demi’, I just had to finish it,” said Matheson, who also credited the trio of Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield and Lane Hutson for hemming the Flames in their own zone on the first shift of overtime. “It was a great job by (them) to obviously have their shift, generate a couple chances and then get a change where the other team isn’t able to get a change as well, so they set us up to have an opportunity.”

Zack Bolduc also scored for the Canadiens (6-2-0). Jakub Dobes made 36 saves.

“I feel like we have players that can make big plays,” said Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis, whose team has won three games in overtime already this season. “It’s always great when you’re able to get the win in overtime and we feel very confident. I think the guys are calculated. I think we scored that goal because of the way we changed. We didn’t let the other team change. We got three fresh guys and kind of raised the percentages on our side and we executed.”

Adam Klapka scored for the Flames (1-6-1), who have gone 0-6-1 in their past seven games. Wolf made 26 saves.

“They all hurt equally, and we just can’t seem to get that second point,” Wolf said in regards to the overtime loss. “It’s something, but you don’t go into a game looking for one point, you go in looking for two. We had our looks. Their goalie made some nice saves in the third period there. We’ve just got to bear down on our chances a little more.”

Bolduc gave the Canadiens a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 17:09 of the first period. He took a pass in the slot from Suzuki and snapped a shot past Wolf.

“We were happy with the point and wanted to get the second one,” said Suzuki, who extended his point streak to seven games (one goal, 10 assists). “I thought both goalies made a lot of big saves.”

Klapka tied it at 5:56 of the third period when he snapped a shot past Dobes after stealing the puck from Canadiens defenseman Noah Dobson in the offensive zone.

“With the shot volume that we’re seeing over the last little bit, we’re doing a better job of getting more pucks to the net,” said Flames coach Ryan Huska. “Now, it’s about being hungrier in front so the goaltender doesn't get a chance to make a clean save.”

NOTES: With his assist in overtime, Demidov has now recorded eight points (two goals, six assists) in 10 career NHL games. He became the first Canadiens player to have eight or more points through their first 10 games since Andrew Cassels (eight points; two goals, six assists) from 1989-90 to 1990-91. … Dobes, who started 5-0-0 in 2024-25 and maintains his rookie status in 2025-26 (in which he is 4-0-0), became the second goaltender in NHL history to post multiple 4-0-0 starts to a season as a rookie. The only other goaltender to do so is Wayne Thomas (7-0-0 in 1972-73 and 4-0-0 in 1973-74 with Montreal).