Flames visit Preds in battle between low-scoring teams

(SportsNetwork.com) - The Calgary Flames were again involved in a game in which a team was held scoreless, only this time they came out on the winning side.

For one night, continued scoring issues didn't cost the Flames and they'll aim to make it back-to-back wins on Tuesday night when they visit the Nashville Predators.

Calgary went into Monday's encounter with the Carolina Hurricanes having been outscored 13-1 over a three-game slide and 26-6 over their previous eight games, a span in which it had been shut out five times while going 1-7-0.

The Flames finally found a way to get around those scoring woes by keeping the Hurricanes off the board in a 2-0 win. Karri Ramo stopped all 23 shots he faced for his first NHL shutout.

Ramo played 48 games with the Tampa Bay Lightning from 2006-09 and then spent the next four seasons in Russia before the Flames took a chance on the 27- year-old Finn in the offseason. He posted 18 whitewashes for Avangard Omsk in the Kontinental Hockey League.

Mikael Backlund and Sean Monahan scored the goals as the Flames won despite Mike Cammalleri sitting out with a concussion suffered in Saturday's loss to Pittsburgh.

"It was probably our best team effort of the season," Calgary head coach Bob Hartley said.

"It's a feel-good story, that's for sure. We had an answer for their pressure. We were on our toes, had great support. Guys were going short (shifts), so we had plenty of energy. We were on a mission."

Monahan tied Cammalleri for the team lead in goals with 13 as he has three tallies in his past seven games for the struggling offense.

The Predators themselves failed to find any offense on Sunday night versus the Minnesota Wild, falling in defeat 4-0. They were shut out for an NHL-leading seventh time this season, but for the first time since Nov. 28.

Marek Mazanec made 19 saves, yielding two goals in the first period and another two in the third as the Preds fell to 1-2-1 on a five-game homestand and 3-7-4 in their past 14.

"They came out with a lot of juice and got us on our heels in the first," said Nashville coach Barry Trotz.

The Predators and Flames are meeting for the first time this season and Nashville has claimed five of the past seven encounters overall.

Calgary has lost four straight in Nashville.