Markstrom allowed four goals on 21 shot sin the Flames loss to the Maple Leafs on Tuesday. David Rittich gave him the night off in Montreal on Thursday, so Markstrom will be making his sixth start of the year on Saturday. He's dropped two straight and is 2-2-1 with a 2.62 GAA and .911 SV% in his first five starts in a Flames uniform.
Markstrom allowed three goals on 32 shots in the Flames loss to the Maple Leafs on Sunday. Since his opening night loss in Winnipeg, Markstrom has gone 2-1-0 while turning aside 86 of the 91 shots (.945 SV%) that he's faced in his last three games. Tonight he gets a rematch vs. a Toronto team that has won four of their last five games while scoring 2.80 goals per game.
Markstrom stopped all 32 shots that he faced in the Flames’ shutout win over the Canucks on Saturday. It was Markstrom’s first win with the Flames and an impressive showing vs. his former team. He will get another chance tonight but the Canucks should be a little more dangerous with J.T. Miller returning from the COVID-19 reserve list.
Markstrom had one of the best years of his career in a contract year, earning a six-year deal in Calgary. He went 23-16-4 with a 2.75 GAA and .918 SV% in 43 games last year and is expected to be a workhorse for the Flames this season. In his debut, he'll face a Jets team that was 17th in GoalsFor (3.00) and 15th in PP% (20.5) in 2020.
Markstrom is coming off of the best year of his career, tying for 11th in the NHL in wins (23), 13th in SV% (.918) and tied for 25th in GAA (2.75). Now he goes from a team that gave up the third most scoring chances to a team that ranked in the middle of the pack, so his GAA and SV% should improve in 2021. The Flames have made a huge commitment to him but they have not had a goalie with a SV% above .920 since Miikka Kiprusoff in 2011-12.
