Perfection, to many, is nothing more than a wistful ideal.

Others, those imbued by a more vivid imagination and sense of the possible, can find a form of that ideal in a child’s smile, a panoramic view of Paris lit at night or a plate of truffle pasta accompanied by a dry Chianti Classic red.

On Saturday night, by any reasonable football standards, the Calgary Stampeders defence fortification toyed with a kind of perfection.

Shutouts are normally the reserve of, say, hockey goaltenders like Martin Brodeur or Hall of Fame hurlers like Walter Johnson.

The Stamps came within two and a half minutes of pitching one of their own.

The eight points Montreal ultimately did put up against them in a 22-8 Stampeder victory flattered to deceive.

Yes, they were that good. That stubborn. That dominating.

“Perfection?’’ asked rush end Ja’Gared Davis. “Do you want it? Always. Always. Every time you step on the field, that’s the goal.

“This is an offensive league, based on offences putting up big points, big yards. We take that as a challenge in here.

“So to play the way … kudos to us. We put in the time, we put in the work and we study the game film.

“And it shows.”

The Stamps cruelly lost a rare defensive whitewash on an intentional grounding call against Stampeder pivot Bo Levi Mitchell with 2:25 left.

In fairness to Mitchell – whose 256-yard passing performance pushed him to 5,127, the most franchise-wise in a single season by anyone not named Flutie – he found himself under siege before firing the ball at the shoetops of O-lineman Dan Federkeil.

Being in the end zone at the time, the Alouettes were awarded a two-point safety.

Shutout gone.

Then, even worse, in the dying embers of the evening with the outcome now formality, a challenge of pass interference by Als’ coach Jacques Chapdelaine on DB Tommie Campbell in the Stampeder end zone placed the ball on the two-yard line.

An iffy decision.

Tailback Brandon Rutley took it in from there with only 16 seconds left on the clock.

“Man, we were close,’’ lamented safety Josh Bell. “SO close. I wanted that shutout. I used to get ’em all the time in Peewee, when I was a kid, right? But in the pros? That’s tough.

“I wanted it for (DeVone) Claybrooks. Rookie D coordinator with a shutout beside his name? That would be sweet for everybody. A reflection on him, too, y’hear what I’m saying?

“He pitched practically a perfect game today.

“And that (challenge) at the end? C’mon, man. Just go home. There’s 20 seconds left. Take your loss and go home. You can’t win.

“They may still be coaching each play, evaluating his players. I guess I can understand that.

“But man … take your loss and just go home.”

This wasn’t so much a shutdown as a suffocation. The Alouettes offence was shackled to 173 total yards. Montreal rang up only 11 first downs. QB Rakeem Cato was sacked seven times and completed only 13 of 29 pass attempts.

Duron Carter: No catches.

Kenny Stafford: No catches.

“When our D-line plays like that,’’ praised the outstanding Campbell, “it allows guys like myself to get up there and play physical, disrupt timing on routes and make them throw the deep ball.

“(Carter)’s a deep threat, a tall guy. One thing I want to make sure I do covering him is high-point the ball and just bat it down.

“Don’t give him a chance to make an easy catch.”

Nothing, absolutely nothing, came easy for the Als’ offence on this night. The D-line chased Cato around as if he owed them all money. They blanketed the Alouette receivers like a particularly prickly rash.

“We played well, that’s all,’’ said rookie linebacker Alex Singleton. “We executed our plan on defence. I don’t worry about the offence; just let them do their thing. Our job is to get them back the ball as often as we can.

“At the end of the day, we got to 14 (wins) and that’s what matters right now.”

The only blemish on an otherwise satisfying defensive night was an injury linebacker Deron Mayo. Initial indications point to a serious knee injury.

“It’s tough,’’ admitted Singleton. “That’s our captain. That’s the guy in the middle. Its a big loss. Hopefully it’s not too bad.”

They certainly rallied in his absence.

In stubbornly protecting their shutout bid late into proceedings, Claybrooks’ group twice forced the Als to turn the ball over on downs. Most impressively, following a Jamal Nixon fumbled punt return at the Calgary 19 yard-line.

Campbell broke up a pass at the back of the end zone on first down. On second down, Glenn Love ripped the ball out of B.J. Cunningham’s mitts along the sideline inside the goal line. A third down completion then went for only nine yards: Calgary football.

It was if they were defying the Als to put so much as a single point on the board.

“You’ve gotta have that mindset,’’ emphasized Davis. “Watching other teams compared to us, you’re not going to get anything easy here. I don’t care if it’s a five-yard route or a 10-yard route.

“We’re going to make you work for everything.

“And if you catch the ball, we’re gonna tackle you.

With Mitchell and the Stampeder attack a bit off form, their defence brethren stepped up and stiffened in helping improve to 14-1-1 and keeping that record season bid alive.

“Like I said, we wanted that shutout,’’ sighed Bell, shaking his head. “Wanted it bad. And it was SO close. Making it kind of bittersweet, actually.

“But on the bright side …

“There’s always next week.”