Lightning strike with 5 unanswered goals, zap Flames 7-4

Associated Press

CALGARY, Alberta (AP) -- Led by a big night by Alex Killorn, Tampa Bay took advantage of a rare off-night by Mike Smith.

Killorn had two goals and two assists to tie a career high for points as the Lightning struck for five unanswered goals, including four in the third period, in a 7-4 win over the Calgary Flames on Thursday night.

Down 4-3 after two periods, Tampa Bay tied it 12 seconds into the third when Killorn pounced on a loose puck near the Flames face-off dot, spun and sent a backhander on net that slipped past Smith.

"The puck hasn't really been falling my way for a lot of the season, so to have a game like this, it's great and gets my confidence back," said Killorn, who had just three points over his previous 16 games.

Killorn's line with rookies Matthew Peca (one goal, two assists) and Yanni Gourde (two assists) combined for nine points.

"Early in the game, that line was really engaged," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "And you know how it is, they get one and all of a sudden, it's like the balloon pops and now they've got the vibes going."

Cory Conacher scored on a sharp angle at 5:16 to give the Lightning the lead for good at 5-4.

Just over a minute later, Steven Stamkos scored his 19th of the season and that was it for Smith. As he got the hook from coach Glen Gulutzan for David Rittich, Smith smashed his stick across the goalpost.

"It was disappointing to let your teammates down like that and lay an egg," Smith said. "Just too many bad goals. It's plain and simple."

Smith entered the night sixth in the NHL with a .925 save percentage.

"What are we in, game 51? It's the first time our goaltending couldn't be considered a star in the game," Gulutzan said.

Conacher's second of the night at 8:26, on a shot from below the goal line, capped the third-period surge. Braydon Coburn and Matthew Peca also scored for Tampa Bay, which maintained its one-point lead over Vegas atop the overall standings.

Micheal Ferland, Mikael Backlund, Sean Monahan and Matt Stajan scored for Calgary. After a seven-game winning streak, the Flames are winless in their last six (0-4-2).

"We're going through a tough patch right now. There's no doubt about it," Stajan said. "Adversity has hit. We have to stick together in these walls and get through this."

The Lightning improved to 4-2-0 on this stretch of eight straight games on the road. They play in Vancouver on Saturday.

"We needed to have a look in the mirror," Stamkos said, "and come out with a lot more urgency and compete after the Winnipeg game (3-1 loss) and I thought we did that."

Tied at 1, the Lightning took their first lead 2:04 into the second period when Killorn scored on the power play.

The lead was short-lived with Calgary roaring back with three straight goals to open up a 4-2 advantage.

After sitting in the penalty box on Killorn's goal, Backlund made up for it on his next shift with a beautiful solo effort to tie it at 2 at 3:38. After crossing the Lightning blue line, he deked around Mikhail Sergachev with a nifty toe-drag, then promptly ripped a wrist shot into the top corner.

Less than two minutes later, Monahan gave Calgary the 3-2 lead, and Stajan added his second of the season at 14:27.

Smith stopped just 21 of 27 shots to fall to 20-15-6. Rittich made three saves.

Andrei Vasilevskiy, who improved to 30-9-2, had 42 saves.

NOTES: Calgary was 50-0-3 when leading after two dating to last season, but has lost two games in a row in regulation in which it led after 40 minutes. ... Calgary has had the lead in each game in its skid. ... Ferland has scored the first goal in a game five times, which leads the team.

UP NEXT

Lightning: at Vancouver on Saturday night.

Flames: vs. Chicago on Saturday night

Marchessault keys late flurry as Knights stun Flames 4-2

Associated Press

CALGARY, Alberta (AP) -- With a flurry of quick goals in the waning moments, the Vegas Golden Knights rallied for a record-tying victory Tuesday night.

Jonathan Marchessault scored the go-ahead goal and added an assist as the Golden Knights scored three times in the final two minutes for a 4-2 win over the Calgary Flames.

Vegas' 33rd victory tied the 1993-94 Florida Panthers and 1993-94 Anaheim Mighty Ducks for the most by a first-year expansion team. The Golden Knights still have 33 games remaining.

"We're a good team and we deserve a lot of the things that we've gotten," Erik Haula said. "We try to play hard night after night and we have one of the best goalies in the league."

Just 10 seconds after Haula tied it 2-all at 18:14 of the third period, Marchessault got around Mark Giordano and beat Calgary goalie Mike Smith.

David Perron scored into an empty net and Reilly Smith also had a goal for Western Conference-leading Vegas (33-12-4) in the opener of a six-game road trip.

Matthew Tkachuk got his seventh goal in the last eight games for the Flames (25-17-8), who lost in regulation for the first time in 12 games. They had gone 7-0-4 since last losing in regulation on Dec. 29.

Sam Bennett also scored for Calgary.

The tying goal was a bizarre one. Flames forward Michael Frolik got the puck in his own end and, in trying to pass it back to a defenseman, put the puck on Calgary's net instead. Mike Smith stopped it with his pad but Haula knocked in the rebound, stunning the home crowd.

"My fault," said Frolik, who was playing his first game after missing 12 with a broken jaw. "Puck came to me and I panicked a little bit. I should have turned and cleared the puck from our zone, and I saw (TJ Brodie) there and I just tried to pass it to him, but I passed it to his backhand. You guys saw what happened. An awful play."

Off the ensuing faceoff, Marchessault got the puck off the boards, darted around Giordano and beat Mike Smith over his glove.

"Like the rest of you, I'm a little bit in shock," Flames coach Glen Gulutzan said. "It's games like this. They sting. They hurt. They hurt every guy. They hurt everybody here. But it's how you react to it, and the good teams can get back after a tough one like this, and that's what we're going to have to do."

It was the first time in the last two seasons that Calgary lost in regulation when leading after two periods. The Flames had been 50-0-3 during that stretch.

"It's tough to swallow," said Bennett, who scored his seventh goal. "We played a great game up until the last two minutes. It shows you what can happen if you take your foot off for a second."

Calgary took a 2-1 lead at 18:43 of the second on a beautiful wraparound goal by Tkachuk.

The 20-year-old faked as though he was carrying the puck behind the net and spun back in the other direction. Not realizing that, goalie Marc-Andre Fleury left both feet to desperately dive headfirst toward the far post, only for Tkachuk to tuck the puck inside the near post.

Trailing 1-0 after the first period, the Flames tied it 6:02 into the second when Bennett slid a puck under Fleury as he cut in off the wing.

Vegas opened the scoring at 16:03 of the first when its sizzling power play converted its first try of the night. As he skated through the slot, Reilly Smith deflected Marchessault's point shot past Mike Smith.

Mike Smith responded right after that with perhaps his biggest stop of the night. Less than 20 seconds later, William Karlsson got behind the Calgary defense, but as he attempted a deke, Mike Smith smothered the shot with his trapper.

Mike Smith finished with 31 stops and fell to 20-14-6.

Fleury, tested 33 times, improved to 13-4-2.

NOTES: Frolik returned to his spot on a line with Mikael Backlund and Tkachuk. ... It was the first of four matchups between the teams this season. ... Haula and Perron extended their point streaks to six games.

UP NEXT

Golden Knights: Play at Winnipeg on Thursday night.

Flames: Host the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday night.

Jaromir Jagr clears waivers, expected to play in Czech league

Jaromir Jagr cleared waivers on Monday after the Calgary Flames placed him on waivers Sunday.

Jagr, 45 is expected to play in the Czech Republic. But his future in the NHL is uncertain.

Jagr has posted 766 goals (3rd all-time), 1155 assists, (5th all-time) for 1921 points (2nd all-time) in 1733 career NHL games played (3rd all-time).

He has a resume of two Stanley Cups, three Lester B. Pearson Awards, one Hart Trophy,  and one Masterton Trophy.

Flames place Jagr on waivers

TSN Hockey Insider Bob McKenzie reports the  Calgary Flames have placed Czech legend Jaromir Jagr on waivers in what could pave the way for contract termination.

Jagr, 45, needs to play only 38 more games to overtake Gordie Howe for most games played in NHL history. However, Jagr reportedly wants to continue playing in Europe.

Playing in Europe would be the case if Jagr clears waivers. However, he may very well have played in his last NHL game.

McDavid scores in shootout to lift Oilers over Flames 4-3

Associated Press

EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) – Connor McDavid used both his actions and his words to express his displeasure with an overtime call Thursday night.

McDavid scored in the third round of the shootout to help the Edmonton Oilers salvage a 4-3 win over the Calgary Flames.

The shootout tally came after McDavid thought he had set up the winner on a goal by Ryan Strome in overtime, only to have it called back after he was charged with goaltender interference for clipping David Rittich's on his way through the crease.

Upset the goal was called off, McDavid was seen indicating that maybe they should check upstairs to see if his shootout winner was valid as well.

"I shouldn't have done that, but it was frustrating," the Oilers captain said. "I think everyone just wants it to be black and white, to be goaltender interference or not. I saw it on the Jumbotron and what I saw was just myself trying to make a play at the net and I was trying to get out of the way. I do avoid the goalie, but I catch his stick."

Brandon Davidson scored twice and Zack Kassian had a goal for the Oilers, who rallied from 2-0 down to win their fourth in five games.

"It had been a month since I had played and I just wanted to keep getting better every shift," Davidson said. "It was a good win for our team and it was great to contribute."

Matthew Tkachuk had two goals and Mark Giordano also scored for the Flames, who have a point in 11 straight games despite their fourth straight loss in extra time (7-0-4).

Calgary scored 1:32 into the first period on the first shot of the game. After a giveaway by Oilers forward Milan Lucic, Troy Brouwer chipped a puck from behind the net out to Tkachuk, who scored his 15th of the season on goalie Cam Talbot.

It was the eighth time this season the Oilers have allowed a goal on an opponent's first shot.

Calgary made it 2-0 with 5:39 to play in the opening frame when Giordano scored on a long screen shot during a delayed penalty.

The Oilers finally got on the board with six minutes to play in the second as a spin-around shot from a bad angle by Davidson surprised goalie David Rittich.

Edmonton tied it just over a minute later when Kassian cashed in on the rebound from Leon Draisaitl's shot.

The Oilers took the lead five minutes into the third period when Ryan Strome fed it in front to Davidson, who scored his second of the game and the season.

Calgary pulled back even eight minutes into the third when Edmonton defenseman Matt Benning lost the puck behind his net, leading to Tkachuk's second goal of the game.

Strome had a goal called off in overtime on goaltender interference, much to the ire of Edmonton fans.

NOTES: It was the third of five meetings between the teams this season, with Edmonton winning the previous two and the last six encounters overall.

UP NEXT

Flames: Host Vegas on Tuesday night.

Oilers: Host Colorado on Thursday night.

–––

More AP hockey: https://apnews.com/tag/NHLhockey

Flames ride six-game streak into Carolina

STATS, LLC

RALEIGH, N.C. – The Carolina Hurricanes can't feel sorry for themselves going into Sunday afternoon's game against the Calgary Flames at PNC Arena.

While the Hurricanes took a gut punch with the conclusion of Friday night's game, the Flames are riding a six-game winning streak.

So the moods could be different as the teams approach their second meeting of the season.

"You just have to stay steady (during good times)," Flames coach Glen Gulutzan said. "You can't get wound up and think about them. We're going to push this group."

Calgary's win streak is the NHL's longest active streak of success.

On the flip side, the Hurricanes gave up two goals in the final 3:08 of Friday night's 4-3 loss to the Washington Capitals.

"A couple of frustrating things out there, but that happens sometimes," Carolina captain Jordan Staal said. "It's a hard one to swallow so we have to get that one (out of the system) and come out with a big effort against Calgary."

That loss came in the team's first home game since Dallas billionaire Tom Dundon took majority of ownership of the team. So while that ruined some of the buzz surrounding the team, it's time to bounce back.

"There's no choice, really," Hurricanes center Jeff Skinner said. "It's one game we have to move on. Next game we've got another opportunity to get two points."

Calgary will be going for a sweep of a four-game road trip after winning Thursday night at Tampa Bay and Friday night at Florida. The Flames won those games by a combined 9-3 score.

There's a growing bond with the Flames.

"How much talking was on our bench and from different guys," Gulutzan said. "The amount of reinforcement that is coming in. You're really going to get something if your guys are driving the bus. ... The biggest thing for me is how they're taking ownership and they're playing for each other. All those little things are coming into this group and that's positive."

Yet the Flames are still trying to smooth out rough edges.

"I think maybe at the beginning of the year, we were finding ways to lose," Calgary left winger Matthew Tkachuk said. "Now we're grinding out wins."

The health of the Hurricanes is a concern considering the lineup shuffle from Friday night, leaving the team without key penalty killers.

Defenseman Brett Pesce went on injured reserve after suffering an upper-body injury in Thursday's morning skate and center Derek Ryan was out of the lineup after suffering an injury in that night's game. Carolina was without forwards Joakim Nordstrom and Elias Lindholm because of illness.

"It shows the value of those guys," Hurricanes coach Bill Peters said.

Forward Lucas Wallmark filled in, with the possibility of more help coming from the American Hockey League affiliate depending on the statuses of the ailing players.

The Hurricanes have upgraded their power-play production, going 6-for-17 across their last six games. They have two power-play goals in two of their last three games.

The Hurricanes have been going primarily with Cam Ward, who has been the clutch goaltender for the past month. But Ward was Friday night's loser while Scott Darling was the 3-1 winner one night earlier at Washington.

Calgary has options in net after backup David Rittich's 41-save outing Friday night in Florida. Mike Smith won a night earlier at Tampa Bay.

Carolina won 2-1 at Calgary on Oct. 19.

After Sunday, the Flames have five days off prior to beginning a three-game homestand.

"We're not overthinking this game," Tkachuk said of the finale of the road trip.

Flames beat NHL-leading Lightning 5-1 for 5th straight win

By MARK DIDTLER
Associated Press

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) -- The surging Calgary Flames got balanced scoring and another win.

Johnny Gaudreau had a goal and an assist, Mike Smith made 33 saves, and the Flames beat the NHL-leading Tampa Bay Lightning 5-1 on Thursday night for their fifth straight victory.

"A big confidence boost for our group, and keep the winning streak alive," Smith said.

Micheal Ferland, Sam Bennett, Mark Jankowski and Matthew Tkachuk also scored to help the Flames improve to 11-5-4 on the road. Gaudreau has nine assists and 10 points during a five-game points streak.

"A lot of guys were contributing chances and everybody was responsible defensively," Tkachuk said.

Brayden Point scored for Tampa Bay.

The Lightning lost All-Star defenseman Victor Hedman midway through the second with a lower-body injury. Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper offered no update but said Hedman will undergo tests Friday.

"We'll see the extent of what's wrong," Cooper said. "No reason to speculate."

Hedman was hit on side of his left knee during a collision with Calgary's Garnet Hathaway and needed assistance to the locker room. On Tuesday night against Carolina, Hedman could not put any weight on his left skate heading to the bench with three minutes left in the second but returned two minutes later.

Ferland opened the scoring 29 seconds into the game during a 2-on-1 off a pass from Sean Monahan. Ferland added an assist and has a four-game points streak (four goals, eight points), while Monahan has points in five straight (five assists, eight points).

After Point scored 31 seconds into the second, the Flames took a 3-1 lead on goals by Gaudreau at 16:48 and Bennett on the power-play 1:55 later.

Tampa Bay's Cedric Paquette failed to score on a penalty shot at 5:15 of the second.

Jankowski and Tkachuk had third-period goals.

"Got two big goals at the end of the second to give us some breathing room," Smith said. "Then, I thought that was one of better third periods with a lead this year."

Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 19 shots.

NOTES: Gaudreau has 51 points in 43 games. His 14th goal stopped a 10-game goal drought. ... Tampa Bay D Dan Girardi, who took a slap shot to the back of the neck Sunday, missed his second straight game but could return after the Lightning's bye week. ... Flames RW Jaromir Jagr remains out with what the team calls a lower-body injury. He has missed 17 games, including the last four and 11 of the past 16.

UP NEXT

Flames: At Florida on Friday night.

Lightning: Off until Thursday night when they host Vegas for the first time.

Hamilton's overtime goal lifts Calgary past Minnesota 3-2

By MIKE COOK
Associated Press

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) -- Dougie Hamilton made sure the Calgary Flames started a crucial road trip on a winning note.

Hamilton scored 2:39 into overtime to lift Calgary over the Minnesota Wild 3-2 on Tuesday night.

Micheal Ferland and Sean Monahan each had a goal and assist and Johnny Gaudreau added three assists for the Flames, who began a four-game trip with a season-high fourth straight win. Mike Smith made 33 saves.

After Smith stopped Ryan Suter on a breakaway, Gaudreau outraced Jason Zucker to the puck going the other way. Gaudreau waited and fed Hamilton for a one-timer.

It's the second straight game-winning goal for Hamilton. He scored with 16 seconds left Saturday as Calgary beat Anaheim 3-2.

"I think we're playing solid," Hamilton said. "Smitty's back there, I think he's been unbelievable, I don't think we're in this game if it's not for him."

Smith's stops included an early glove save on Matt Cullen and a left pad save to stop Mikael Granlund alone in front midway through the second.

"We just couldn't capitalize," Suter said. "In the third period, we had nothing to lose and you go for it, and too bad we couldn't have pulled it out."

Granlund and Jared Spurgeon tied the game in the final period for Minnesota, which lost for just the third time in its last 14 home games - two of which were in overtime.

Granlund got the Wild within one by beating Smith high on the glove side at 7:16. He has five goals in his past seven games.

A slap shot by Spurgeon from the right circle clanked off the far post and into the Flames' net six minutes later, further igniting a crowd that booed Minnesota off the ice after the second period.

"In the third period, I thought we sat back a little bit too much. We should have pushed," Flames coach Glen Gulutzan said.

Minnesota had two power plays in the final 6:35 but failed to convert. It was 0 for 5 with the man advantage.

"We need to put it in," Wild coach Bruce Boudreau said. "We had the puck all around them and one pass too many here, one pass too many there and not enough shots and Smith was on his game."

Calgary and Minnesota began the night among a group of five teams within one point of each other for the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference.

"Didn't want to give them that extra point there, but we found a way to get the two points and keep this win thing going," Gaudreau said.

Monahan gave Calgary a 2-0 lead in the final minutes of the middle frame as he redirected a pass from Ferland past a sprawling Alex Stalock. With his 20th goal of the season, Monahan becomes the ninth player in Flames history to reach that mark in five consecutive seasons.

Ferland finished off a 3-on-2 with Monahan and Gaudreau six minutes into the game for a 1-0 lead. It was his third goal in three games and 18th of the season, second-best on the team.

The first-line trio has scored 51 of Calgary's 116 goals this season.

"Me, Mony and Ferls, we're building some chemistry, which is really important in this league. We keep building that chemistry and having that confidence, it will be huge for us," Gaudreau said.

NOTES: Wild LW Nino Niederreiter missed the game with a lower-body injury. Boudreau said he's expected to be out until after the bye. ... Ferland has a career-high 26 points, one more than last season. His 18 goals are a career best. ... Minnesota was 4 for 4 on the penalty kill to increase its league-best home percentage to 92.8. Visitors have just five goals in 69 chances.

UP NEXT

Flames: Thursday night at Tampa Bay.

Wild: Wednesday night at Chicago.

Dougie Hamilton breaks tie in 3rd, Flames beat Blues 2-1

Associated Press

CALGARY, Alberta (AP) -- The Calgary Flames are becoming more confident as they keep getting rewarded for their improved play.

Dougie Hamilton broke a tie at 7:57 of the third period and Calgary beat the St. Louis Blues 2-1 on Wednesday night.

"Believe in what we're doing and if we're playing well, the wins are going to come," Hamilton said. "We just have to stick with it and we've done that and got rewarded the last two games."

After goalie Carter Hutton stopped Sean Monahan's shot from the blue line, Ivan Barbashev was about to skate away with the rebound when Hamilton swung at the puck and, all in one motion, knocked it off the forward's stick and into the net.

"I thought a shot was coming and went to the slot to see what would come from it and it bounced out. I just whacked at it. I didn't even see it go in," Hamilton said.

Michael Frolik also scored for Calgary.

Brayden Schenn had his team-leading 17th goal for St. Louis. The Blues have lost four of five.

"They outplayed us. I thought we gave up a lot of chances and from there we couldn't generate anything," said Hutton, who fell to 5-3-0. "No energy."

St. Louis tied it at 1 on a power play 1:26 into the second. After hitting the blue line with speed, Schenn neatly stepped around flat-footed Troy Brouwer and fired a shot inside the post on Mike Smith.

"It just comes down to work ethic and wanting to win," Schenn said. "You're going to have those nights where it's not going to be perfect and you've got to grind it out, and tonight we just didn't have that effort to do it."

Calgary had a 33-22 edge in shots and has gone 11 games since it was last outshot.

"Huge win for our team. St. Louis is a good team," Smith said. "We're managing the puck a lot better than we have been. We've been doing it for quite some time now, but just haven't gotten rewarded for it."

The victory moved the Flames into third place in the Pacific Division, one point up on San Jose.

"We're trying to accomplish something that's going to help us win not only now, but in the playoffs when things do get tight," coach Glen Gulutzan said.

Frolik opened the scoring at 7:58 of the first when he was set up alone in front by Mikael Backlund. Hutton made the initial stop, but the rebound went high in the air, deflected off a Blues player and just crossed the line before being cleared away by Tage Thompson.

Not ruled a goal originally, play continued on for about 45 seconds before the arena horn sounded and the Flames started celebrating with Frolik at the bench. The NHL had immediately reviewed play and determined the puck did go in.

Smith made 21 saves to improve to 14-11-3. His best save came halfway through the third when he jabbed out his blocker to deny Alex Steen from 20 feet out.

Hutton made 31 stops in his first start since his 48-save shutout of the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday.

Calgary played most of the game with five defensemen after Travis Hamonic exited in the latter part of the first period.

"It was a little bit precaution with his groin. We'll see how he is tomorrow. We're not ruling him out for Montreal," Gulutzan said.

NOTES: The Blues went 1 for 4 with the man advantage, while Calgary's power play was 0 for 4 to fall to 1 for 28 over the last seven games. ... Jaromir Jagr (lower body) sat out for Calgary. The nagging injury has sidelined him for a total of 13 games. His spot was taken by Curtis Lazar. ... The Blues dropped to 6-10-1 when giving up the first goal. They're 16-2-1 when they score first.

UP NEXT

Blues: At Edmonton on Thursday night.

Flames: Host Montreal on Friday night.

Giordano fuels Flames' outburst vs. Canucks

VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- The Calgary Flames were rewarded for their effort.

Mark Giordano scored twice in a four-goal second period, and the Flames routed the Vancouver Canucks 6-1 on Sunday night.

Calgary (17-14-3) snapped a three-game losing streak while improving to 3-4-2 over the past nine games.

"Even though the last few games we didn't get a win, we were playing really good hockey and just weren't getting rewarded," said Flames center Sam Bennett, who had a goal and three assists. "This definitely feels really good for everyone tonight.

"We have to keep playing the way we are because if we do, it's eventually going to pay off."

Giordano liked the energy Calgary showed. The Flames were coming of a 2-0 loss to the Nashville Predators on Saturday night but played with more speed and emotion than the Canucks.

"I thought tonight our whole game was good," Giordano said. ""We've been playing well lately, and tonight we sort of got the breaks and scored a lot of goals.

"We've just got to keep playing the same way."

Bennett scored on a four-on-one breakaway in the second period. He also assisted on goals by Mark Jankowski, Matthew Tkachuk and Micheal Ferland.

"His play away from the puck has dramatically improved, especially in the last 20 games," Calgary coach Glen Gulutzan said. "That's what getting him some different looks.

"It's good from a coaching point of view when you're going over that stuff and now he's having some offensive success. It starts to get stapled in your brain that's what you need to do to be successful."

Calgary goaltender David Rittich stopped 16 shots and came close to getting his first shutout in just his fifth NHL game.

"It was like skating practice for me, not a lot of shots because guys played really well and blocked a lot of shots," Rittich said. "I don't really care about shutouts. For me, it's the score after the game. We got two points."

Markus Granlund scored Vancouver's goal on a third-period power play.

It was a costly loss for the Canucks (15-15-4). Not only did they fall for the fifth time in six games, but rookie right winger Brock Boeser left early in the second period with a foot injury and didn't return.

Boeser was hurt after blocking a Giordano shot. He leads all NHL rookies with 17 goals and 30 points.

Canucks coach Travis Green didn't have a postgame update on Boeser's injury. Boeser, who was spotted on crutches after the game, joins an injury list that includes center Bo Horvat (foot fracture), left winger Sven Baertschi (fractured jaw) and defenseman Chris Tanev (groin).

"It's a good challenge for us," Canucks veteran Daniel Sedin said. "We have a lot of young guys that are going to get more ice time. They need to step up. We all need to step up."

The Canucks have been outscored 29-9 in their past six games. They were embarrassed 7-1 at home by Nashville on Wednesday.

Green thought the team was in the game until midway through the second period.

"When it was 2-0, I didn't mind our game," he said. "I felt if we could get another one before the end of the period, then all of a sudden they get three goals in four minutes.

"I felt like we were skating. We didn't get a lot of pucks to the net. I felt like we over-passed it a few times."

Once they fell behind, the Canucks made too many mistakes to catch up.

"When you are down, and you're a team that doesn't score that much, all of a sudden you start to cheat a little bit," Green said. "It just doesn't work. It backfires."

Canucks goaltender Jacob Markstrom allowed five goals on 19 shots before being replaced by Anders Nilsson to start the third period. Nilsson stopped 18 of 19 shots.

NOTES: D Erik Gudbranson, who missed 11 games with an upper-body injury, practiced Saturday and could return to the Canucks' lineup Tuesday against Montreal. ... Canucks C Michael Chaput and D Ashton Sautner were healthy scratches. ... The Flames' third-period power-play goal broke an 0-of-23 streak in six games. ... Calgary G David Rittich was assessed a penalty in the first period for throwing his stick during a play at the side of the net. ... Calgary is 9-4-3 on the road this season and has points in five consecutive road games. ... The Flames' scratches were C Curtis Lazar, C Freddie Hamilton and D Matt Bartkowski.

Donskoi's late goal lifts Sharks over Flames

CALGARY, Alberta -- Joonas Donskoi made the most of his return to the lineup after missing the past six games with a lower-body injury.

Donskoi scored at 17:12 of the third period to lead his San Jose Sharks to a 3-2 victory over the Calgary Flames at the Scotiabank Saddledome on Thursday.

"I thought he was awesome," Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said. "He was on the puck all night, hounding it, carrying it, making plays. I thought he was one of our better players."

Donskoi, who also had a first-period assist, drove hard to the net to poke a loose puck through Calgary goaltender Mike Smith's legs to give San Jose the victory.

"The puck was loose behind Smith. It was the kind of goal we needed at that point," said Donskoi, while adding he felt better as the game progressed. "It was hard, to be honest, at the beginning. It's never easy to come back after you've been out for a while. I think I felt better as the game went along.

"No matter how hard you practice, it's different to play a game. I'm super excited to be back. It was hard to be out."

Donskoi played on a line with Chris Tierney and Timo Meier, who chipped in with a goal and an assist apiece for the Sharks (17-10-3).

"He creates a lot of offense out there and he's scoring a lot of goals and big-time goals for us," Tierney said of Donskoi. "It's huge to have him out there and he adds a lot of depth to our team."

Michael Frolik and Johnny Gaudreau scored for the Flames (16-13-3), who had gone 2-0-2 in their previous four games.

"We gave up a late one," Calgary captain Mark Giordano said. "There's not much more to the game than that. It's a pretty even game.

"They get a rush and nobody knew it was just sitting there in the crease. Tough one to lose a game on."

San Jose's Aaron Dell stopped 32 shots, while Smith finished with 26 saves.

"The last goal, it's got to be stopped," Smith said. "It's a stoppable puck, a controllable puck, so it's on me. I had no idea where the puck was. I just tried to stay still and hope it was under me somewhere."

On his first shift, Troy Brouwer had a great chance for the Flames, but his shot from the slot went just wide.

Joe Thornton found himself alone in front of the Calgary net a short time later, but he wasn't able to jam the puck past Smith.

Frolik opened the scoring at 4:42 of the first period when he intercepted Tim Heed's clearing attempt before wristing a shot through Dell's legs.

The Sharks tied it 3:53 before the first intermission on Meier's fourth goal of the year. Smith did a nice job to poke check the puck off Tierney's stick but it went right to Meier, who quickly swatted a shot into the Calgary net.

The Flames had a two-man advantage for 37 seconds early in the middle frame, but weren't able to capitalize on the opportunity.

Frolik had another great chance at 6:30 of the second. After a failed wraparound attempt by Matthew Tkachuk, the puck lay in the crease for several seconds, but Frolik wasn't able to poke it past Dell.

Tierney gave the Sharks a 2-1 lead 10 minutes into the second when he slipped a shot from the slot through Smith's legs during a San Jose man advantage.

"For whatever reason, it felt like we were losing a lot of puck battles, especially in the middle period there," Giordano said. "I thought in the third period our mindset got way better."

Calgary pulled back into a 2-2 tie when Gaudreau scored at 7:39 of the third. Gaudreau swatted a pass from Garnet Hathaway just under the arm of a diving Dell for his 13th goal of the season.

"You're just trying to look for a spark in the third and I thought we got it," Calgary coach Glen Gulutzan said. "We should have got points tonight. It was a hard-fought game both ways. They're a good team."

NOTES: Flames RW Jaromir Jagr missed his fifth straight game with a lower-body injury. ... Calgary's other scratches were C Freddie Hamilton and D Matt Bartkowski. ... Although the Sharks recalled C Danny O'Regan from the AHL's San Jose Barracuda on Tuesday, he was a healthy scratch along with D Paul Martin and D Joakim Ryan. ... The Sharks have recorded points in four straight games (3-0-1). ... C Ryan Carpenter, who was placed on waivers by the Sharks on Tuesday, was claimed by the Vegas Golden Knights the following morning.

Wild edge Flames in shootout

SAINT PAUL, Minn. -- If Minnesota Wild players got paid extra for overtime, and shootouts, they'd have significant extra money for holiday shopping these days.

Chris Stewart and Mikael Granlund scored in a shootout on Tuesday, lifting the Minnesota Wild to a 2-1 win over the Calgary Flames. It was their third straight victory, all of which have happened beyond the 60-minute mark.

The Wild (16-11-3) got a regulation goal from Matt Cullen and 16 saves from backup goalie Alex Stalock. Devan Dubnyk started the game in goal for Minnesota but left with an injury.

"It's amazing how many times a backup goalie comes in a game and shuts the other team down," said Wild coach Bruce Boudreau, who said he expects to know more about Dubnyk's health on Wednesday. "I'm amazed. You get a 3-0 lead or something and the other team changes goalies and usually they never get another goal."

Calgary (16-12-3) got a regulation goal from Micheal Ferland and 21 saves from goalie Mike Smith but saw its two-game win streak snapped. Johnny Gaudreau had the only shootout goal for the Flames, who have earned at least a point in four straight, their longest such streak of the season. The Flames were 0-for-4 on the power play.

"You get four cracks there, you want to take advantage. And I didn't think that was good enough," Calgary coach Glen Gulutzan said. "Our specialty teams, the looks they got on their power play, I didn't like those either. I thought we played well tonight. I thought we were the better team for most of the minutes, but our specialty teams weren't good enough."

The Wild had one of their slowest starts of the season, needing more than half of the first period just to register a shot on goal, but still emerged with a lead after 20 minutes. The Flames had a 10-1 advantage in shots and got a pair of power plays before Cullen backhanded in a shot during a scramble in front of Smith.

"We were kind of on our heels," said Cullen, after the Wild returned from road games in Los Angeles, Anaheim and San Jose. "Sometimes that happens when you come off the West Coast swing. We just had a hard time getting our legs going, but I thought that we dug down when we needed it."

Dubnyk turned aside all 10 Calgary shots in the first period but was not on the ice or the bench at the start of the second.

While Stalock took over in goal, the Wild announced that Dubnyk had a lower-body injury that kept him out of the remainder of the game. Boudreau said he knew from the first media timeout that Dubnyk was struggling, and relayed the message that Dubnyk could come off the ice at any time.

Ferland finally solved Stalock with 63 seconds left in the middle period, blasting a rising shot from the blue line that found its way through a crowd, deflecting off Minnesota defenseman Jonas Brodin and beating the goalie high on the glove side.

Ferland had a wide open net to shoot at in the third period after a cross-ice pass from Gaudreau, but his shot hit the crossbar, then deflected out and hit referee T.J. Luxmore in the head. Luxmore left the ice, and Wes McCauley served as the lone referee for several minutes in the third.

"It was a great play by Johnny and just one of those bounces you wish would just go in," Ferland said. "I couldn't have been more wide open and Johnny made a great play and I should have put that in."

NOTES: Wild C Matt Cullen's first-period goal was the 250th of his career. He is in his 20th NHL season and signed as a free agent with the Wild last summer after winning the Stanley Cup with Pittsburgh in 2016 and 2017. ... Flames RW Jaromir Jagr missed his fourth consecutive game while battling a lower-body injury. The 45-year-old has been skating in practice but did not make the trip to Minnesota. ... G Devan Dubnyk made his 100th appearance in a Minnesota uniform. When he left the game due to injury, Connor Beaupre, the son of former Minnesota North Stars goalie Don Beaupre and an assistant coach for a Twin Cities high school team, suited up as an emergency backup and was available for the third period.

Monahan's goal in OT leads Flames over Canadiens

MONTREAL -- When Calgary Flames forward Johnny Gaudreau gets the puck in overtime, his teammates know there's a good chance they are going to see something special.

He didn't disappoint on Thursday, setting up Sean Monahan for his second goal of the game at 1:14 of overtime to give the Flames a 3-2 win against the Montreal Canadiens, ending Calgary's three-game losing streak.

Garnet Hathaway scored his first of the season for the Flames (15-12-2) and goaltender David Rittich, making the second start of his career, made 35 saves.

Daniel Carr (second goal of the season) and Phillip Danault (fifth) scored for the Canadiens (13-13-4) and Carey Price made 34 saves as the Canadiens lost their second game in a row.

"If you watch the bench when Johnny had the puck going down, the whole bench stood up," said Hathaway, whose controversial first goal of the season had tied the game 2-2. "You know Johnny is going to make a play and (Monahan) doesn't miss from there."

Gaudreau showed a lot of patience on the right wing as Calgary defenseman TJ Brodie drove for the net and Monahan popped into the top of the slot. He took Gaudreau's pass and put in the top corner on the stick side for his 25th game-winning goal.

"When that play was going on, I'm just hoping that Johnny is going to make the play over to TJ, I believe I was and I was 'C'mon, make it, make it, make it,'" Flames coach Glen Gulutzan said. "All of sudden (Monahan) out of nowhere is there and I'm like, 'okay, that's better,' and then it goes in. You can't give him that much time in the slot. He's so lethal there."

The Flames are 6-2 in overtime this season and played beyond regulation time for the second night in a row after losing 2-1 in a shootout to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday. The Flames finished their two-game road trip with three out of four points. It was their third win in their past nine games (3-4-2).

"When we get to OT, we're confident and I think we showed that again tonight. It's a big win," said Monahan, who sensed something good was going to happen when Gaudreau got the puck. "It's nice to see when he has the puck coming down the wing there and there's no one behind. Johnny is a great player and it's always a treat to be out there with him."

"At the end of the day, those guys, even if you don't see them much, they don't need much to make something happen," Canadiens coach Claude Julien said. "That's what you saw from those guys. They still managed to get a couple of goals and it wasn't because they dominated against the players they were playing against. Whenever they got an opportunity, they made the most of it."

Carr and Danault gave the Canadiens a 2-1 lead after two periods. Monahan opened the scoring with his 16th of the season in the first period.

Hathaway and his linemates on the fourth line, Sam Bennett and Mark Jankowski, buzzed around the Montreal net before Hathaway was credited with the goal that tied it 2-2 at 7:49 of the third period.

Hathaway dug at the puck and both the puck and Price wound up in the net. Referee Steve Kozari waved the goal off and announced there was incidental contact with Price.

Gulutzan then used his coach's challenge, claiming there was no goalie interference. After reviewing the play, Kozari announced it was a goal.

"We were looking at it right away," Gulutzan said, crediting video coach Jamie Pringle for pushing for the challenge. "Right way, we were, 'that's a goal.' We wanted to let them make their call and when they came over, when (referee Chris Rooney) came over, I asked what's the call on the ice -- I wanted to make sure there was no whistle infractions, the whistle went or anything like that -- and he said call on the ice was goalie interference, and we knew right away that puck was in early, so we challenged it."

Julien chose to look at the circumstances leading up to the goal.

"We lost a lot of battles along the wall, around the net area and that's what cost us the goal," he said. "This is what we have to get better at. It's an ongoing thing with our team to get better in those areas."

Price, 5-2-0 since returning after missing 10 games with a lower-body injury, credited the Flames.

"I thought we played a pretty good game tonight. We did a lot of good things," he said. "That team over there was resilient. Their goaltender played well for them and they found a way to win."

Rittich, a 25-year-old native of the Czech Republic whose idol is Canadiens great Patrick Roy, picked up his second career win.

"That kid is a fantastic kid," Gulutzan said. "He's a battler and that's what you need in these back-to-backs. I'm really happy for him. We did a good job, but he made some big saves. A guy puts in that much work, you're happy for him."

NOTES: Calgary LW Matthew Tkachuk sat out against Montreal on Thursday as he served a one-game suspension for unsportsmanlike conduct against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday in the Flames' 2-1 shootout loss. Tkachuk poked at Toronto forward Matt Martin with his stick from the bench. Tkachuk forfeited $11,280.49. ... Calgary RW Jaromir Jagr missed his second game in a row after aggravating a lower body injury he sustained Nov. 25. ... Montreal C Jonathan Drouin, recovered from his lower-body injury after missing three games, did not play against the Flames because of illness. ... Also injured for the Canadiens were RW Ales Hemsky (concussion), LW Artturi Lehkonen (lower body), G Al Montoya (concussion) and RW Nikita Scherbak (knee). ... Canadiens D Victor Mete, 19, was scratched for the third time in eight games and is a candidate to be sent to play for Canada at the World Junior Championship Dec. 26-Jan. 5 in Buffalo.

Andersen's 47 saves lead Leafs over Flames

TORONTO -- The Toronto Maple Leafs can thank their goaltender, Frederik Andersen, for making a shootout possible.

And then they can be grateful that William Nylander was able to take advantage of the opportunity by scoring the decisive goal in that shootout in a 2-1 victory over the Calgary Flames on Wednesday night.

Andersen was superb, stopping 47 shots.

"Freddie was huge to help us get the win," Nylander said.

"He was good, in particular in overtime, we gave up Grade-A chances," Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock said. "Both teams attempted like 70 shots. It was ridiculous."

"Their goalie played well," said Flames left winger Johnny Gaudreau, who missed his shot in the shootout. "I think we had a lot of looks. It's frustrating, we could have easily won that game.

"We had a ton of chances, some good looks in the third and even in overtime. I think we controlled the play most of the time in overtime. You could tell (Andersen) was on his game tonight."

Mark Giordano scored for Calgary (14-12-2) in regulation, and Morgan Rielly (18-10-1) replied for Toronto.

Mike Smith made 28 saves in the Flames goal.

"It was a good hockey game first of all," Flames coach Glen Gulutzan said. "I looked at the way our team played from start to finish, I like our game, put up 47-48 shots on net. The last couple of games we put up almost 90 shots. It was a good road game for us to build off of, (but) we'd like to get two points. You've got to stay with it. Lately, if you look at our games, we haven't had any bounces."

The Flames took the lead at 10:37 of the first period on the power play. Giordano scored his fourth goal of the season as his snap shot from just inside the blue line found its way through traffic. Sean Monahan and Troy Brouwer earned the assists.

Toronto's Matt Martin was serving a holding penalty.

"It was high emotions, a lot of pucks each way," Andersen said. "I felt good. I was a little screened on the goal. ... I think it's important to be able to flip the page, and stay in the present. Just keep going and get ready for the next game. It's going to come and be a challenge, too."

The Flames had a 14-12 advantage in shots on goal in the first period.

"(Andersen) has been unbelievable this past month," Toronto center Mitch Marner said. "He's been the person we can depend on, the person winning us games. He made a couple of huge saves in overtime and in the shootout."

The Maple Leafs tied the game at 18:47 of the second period on the fourth goal of the season by Rielly, a shot from the edge of the left circle near the boards.

"We played a very good game as a team, we were smart defensively," Gaudreau said. "The one goal they scored (came after the puck) bounced off the glass, everyone was scrambling around and he just found a way to shoot it from the side of the boards and it found the net."

The Flames led in shots on goal 26-21 after two periods.

Calgary put the puck into the goal at 5:10 the third period, but the goal was disallowed because the net had been dislodged.

Nylander hit the bar with a shot with just under three minutes to play in the third.

Each team had some good chances in the free-wheeling overtime, but Andersen was particularly good.

The Maple Leafs went on the power play with 31.5 seconds left in the overtime when Gaudreau was penalized for holding, but Calgary held on to force the shootout.

"I didn't think we had very good legs," Babcock said. "In the end, we found a way to win. It will look good in the standings."

NOTES: Calgary RW Jaromir Jagr (lower-body injury) did not play Wednesday because of the nagging injury. He also missed the 4-1 loss to the Maple Leafs in Calgary on Nov. 28. He could play Thursday against the Montreal Canadiens. ... Toronto C Tyler Bozak (illness) returned to the lineup Wednesday after missing a loss to the Canucks in Vancouver on Saturday because of food poisoning. ... The Maple Leafs will visit Pittsburgh on Saturday. ... The Flames travel to Montreal on Thursday.

GAME SUMS

Toronto won shootout 2-1.
First Period-1, Calgary, Giordano 4 (Brouwer, Monahan), 10:37 (pp). Penalties-Martin, TOR, (holding), 9:27; Giordano, CGY, (delay of game), 16:18; Hamilton, CGY, (hooking), 19:48.
Second Period-2, Toronto, Rielly 4, 18:47. Penalties-Gaudreau, CGY, (interference), 13:00; Gardiner, TOR, (cross checking), 19:25.
Third Period-None. Penalties-None.
Overtime-None. Penalties-Gaudreau, CGY, (holding), 4:28.
Shootout-Calgary 1 (Monahan NG, Tkachuk G, Gaudreau NG, Backlund NG), Toronto 2 (Matthews G, Marner NG, Marleau NG, Nylander G).
Shots on Goal-Calgary 14-12-17-5-48. Toronto 12-9-7-1-29.
Power-play opportunities-Calgary 1 of 2; Toronto 0 of 4.
Goalies-Calgary, Smith 12-9-2 (29 shots-28 saves). Toronto, Andersen 16-8-1 (48-47).
A-19,217 (18,819). T-2:52.
Referees-Frederick L'Ecuyer, Wes McCauley. Linesmen-David Brisebois, Mark Shewchyk.

Flyers top Flames to snap 10-game skid

CALGARY, Alberta -- Scott Laughton picked a good time to record the second two-goal game of his NHL career.

Valtteri Filppula and Michael Raffl had a goal and an assist each as the Philadelphia Flyers beat the Calgary Flames 5-2 on Monday at the Scotiabank Saddledome to snap their 10-game losing streak (0-5-5).

"To get a big win like that collectively as a group, I thought everyone battled really hard," said Laughton, who also scored twice in Philadelphia's 8-2 win at home over the Washington Capitals on Oct. 16. "It's a huge win for our group, I think. It started to slip a little bit. We get to 10 games and you start getting in your own head. It's just a really good feeling for this group right now."

Wayne Simmonds also scored, while Jakub Voracek had three assists for Philadelphia (9-11-7).

Goalie Brian Elliott, who played for the Flames last season before signing with the Flyers in the offseason, made 43 saves to improve his record to 7-6-6.

"That's a big streak to end, and in doing it the way we did tonight with punctuation was really good for our group," said Elliott. "We've got to take that and harness that and take it to the next game (on Wednesday in Edmonton). We've got to enjoy this, though. We've waited a little too long for it."

Troy Brouwer and Sean Monahan scored for the Flames, who wrapped up their four-game homestand with a 1-3-0 record.

"We've got to be able to shrug things off when they happen and move forward," Brouwer said. "It seems like sometimes we get a little bit down on ourselves and maybe that's where us as leaders can do a little bit better job of making sure that guys stay up and stay excited and not get down on ourselves."

Mike Smith finished with 16 saves for Calgary (14-12-1).

When asked what the most frustrating part of the loss was, Flames left winger Matthew Tkachuk responded: "Probably leaving Smitty out to dry. That's probably the worst."

Tkachuk was visibly upset after the game and gave short answers to the questions he was asked before abruptly leaving the dressing room.

"That was a tough one," he said. "We need to be better."

Brouwer opened the scoring at 18:15 of the opening frame with his first goal of the season and first since March 27 to snap out of a 32-game drought. After swatting the rebound of a Curtis Lazar shot through Elliott's legs, Brower raised his arms and looked skyward.

"You want to win against every one of your past teams and I don't know if it was Brouw's first goal, but he can have that one and I can have the 'W'," Elliott said. "That's good for me."

It didn't take long for the Flyers to tie things up as Filppula swatted the puck past Smith just 61 seconds later. Defenseman Andrew MacDonald took the initial point shot that hit Voracek in front of the net and bounced right to Filppula for an easy goal.

The Flyers then scored three goals in 71 seconds in the second period to take a 4-1 lead.

Laughton tipped a point shot by Shayne Gostisbehere that hit the post and then bounced off Smith and into the net at 7:31. Raffl one-timed a pass from Voracek past the Flames' netminder 25 seconds later.

Then with Michael Frolik in the penalty box for high-sticking, Simmonds tapped a rebound past Smith at 8:42. The Flames had reason to be upset with the power-play goal after replays showed that it was MacDonald, not Frolik, who high-sticked teammate Sean Couturier in the face.

The Flames outshot the Flyers 21-7 in the second and were finally rewarded when Monahan snapped a shot to the short side past Elliott with 1:15 left in the period.

Laughton restored Philadelphia's three-goal advantage when he scored his third goal of the season at 1:51 of the third.

NOTES: Flyers D Radko Gudas sat out the eighth game of his 10-game suspension for slashing Winnipeg Jets C Mathieu Perreault on Nov. 16. He has sat out both of Philadelphia's games against Calgary this season and is eligible to return to the lineup on Dec. 12 at home against the Toronto Maple Leafs. ... Philadelphia also scratched D Mark Alt and C Jori Lehtera. ... After being a healthy scratch for the past two games, C Curtis Lazar drew back into Calgary's lineup in place of C Matt Stajan, who had suited up for four straight contests. ... Flames C Freddie Hamilton was scratched for the third straight time, while D Matt Bartkowski sat out his fourth straight game. Bartkowski has only played one of the past 12 games for the Flames. ... Calgary captain D Mark Giordano played in his 700th NHL game.

Smith shuts out former team, Flames beat Coyotes 3-0

Associated Press

CALGARY, Alberta (AP) — Mike Smith says he’ll forever be indebted to the Arizona Coyotes. That didn’t take away from the satisfaction of shutting them out.

Smith stopped 28 shots to blank his former team, Mark Jankowski scored twice and the Calgary Flames beat the Arizona Coyotes 3-0 on Thursday night.

Smith picked up his second shutout of the season and 35th of his career. The 35-year-old was making his first start against Arizona since being acquired by Calgary via trade in June.

“They took a chance on me when I was bumping around there and really hadn’t found my way yet. I became a No. 1 goalie there in Arizona,” said Smith, who spent six years with the Coyotes.

“I owe a lot to them, but obviously it feels good to beat them. The shutout’s a bonus, but the way we beat them was a lot more rewarding for me.”

Mikael Backlund also scored for Calgary. The Flames bounced back after opening their four-game homestand with a 4-1 loss to Toronto on Tuesday night.

Scott Wedgewood made 41 saves for the Coyotes.

Jankowski opened the scoring 2:48 into the second by showing an elite set of hands. Set up in front on a tic-tac-toe passing sequence with linemates Sam Bennett and Jaromir Jagr, Jankowski was stopped on his first try but put his stick between his legs to zip the rebound over Wedgewood’s glove.

“I was just skating by and with my momentum, my only real play was to go through the legs — just a reaction thing — and luckily it went in,” said Jankowski.

Calgary extended its lead to 2-0 at 10:19 of the third when Matthew Tkachuk neatly set up Backlund in front.

Jankowski added his second of the night and fifth of the season less than two minutes later. Right off a faceoff, he went to the net and scored on a forehand-to-backhand deke.

Smith, who improved to 11-8-1, had his best stop halfway through the second period when he dove across the crease to thwart Christian Dvorak.

“Make no mistake. About the eight-minute mark of that (third) period and after it was 3-0, that bench knew what they were fighting for the rest of the way,” said Flames coach Glen Gulutzan, who called it his team’s most complete effort of the season.

“Nobody says it, that’s just the way it is. But they all knew and you could tell by the way that they played, they weren’t going to give up the next one.”

With Antti Raanta (upper body) sidelined, Wedgewood made his fourth straight start for the Coyotes and fell to 2-4-2.

Wedgewood kept the score 1-0 early in the third with a pair of stops against Johnny Gaudreau, who has been held off the scoresheet in three straight games.

The Coyotes had gone 3-0-1 in their previous four road games, including an overtime loss on Tuesday in Edmonton.

“We were out of gas. You could tell,” Coyotes coach Rick Tocchet said. “We looked like a tired hockey team. It’s a lesson learned. Some guys can’t give. If you’re tired, you have to play a little bit smarter.”

NOTES: Tkachuk played in his 100th game. The 19-year-old is the second-youngest player to get to 100 games in franchise history, behind only Dan Quinn. ... Jagr (lower body) returned after missing one game. ... Garnet Hathaway, just recalled from AHL Stockton, got into his first game since the season opener. ... The Coyotes were without Niklas Hjalmarsson (upper body), who was injured Tuesday night in Edmonton.

Coyotes: Hosts New Jersey on Saturday night.

Flames: Hosts Edmonton on Saturday night.

Gaudreau extends point streak to 10 as Flames beat Capitals

By STEPHEN WHYNO
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Johnny Gaudreau would rather talk about anything other than his offensive production. He’s just making it impossible to avoid.

Gaudreau had a goal and an assist to extend his career-best point streak to 10 games and lead the Calgary Flames to a 4-1 victory over the Washington Capitals on Monday night. Gaudreau, nicknamed “Johnny Hockey,” has eight goals and 11 assists, and the Flames are 7-3-0 in that time.

“It’s cool,” Gaudreau said. “Coming into games, we’re excited to find a way to find the net there. It’s an exciting time right now. We’re playing well. But you go through ups and downs throughout the season and right now it’s going well for us, so hopefully we can keep this going and keep playing well.”

Gaudreau scored and assisted on Sean Monahan’s goal, one of two on the power play for Calgary, which has won four of its past five. Mikael Backlund and captain Mark Giordano also scored for the Flames, who got 29 saves from Mike Smith.

Monahan had a goal and an assist after a power-play hat trick in a comeback victory Saturday at Philadelphia. Calgary’s top line is clicking, and everyone knows Gaudreau is the catalyst.

“He’s making something happen every shift,” Monahan said. “To be able to play on his line, it’s a lot of fun right now. That confidence is hard to take away from a guy like that, so he’s going to continue to do that.”

Coach Glen Gulutzan sees confidence oozing from the 5-foot-9, 157-pound winger from Carneys Point, New Jersey. His goal tied the score at the 4:49 mark after Lars Eller struck first for the Capitals about a minute in, but Gaudreau’s play in the defensive zone also stood out.

“What a coach likes more is his backcheck on (Alex Ovechkin) that lifted the stick,” Gulutzan said. “I know he’s going to get points because he’s just that gifted, but his commitment to winning just shows itself night in, night out. I love that he’s on the roll. You want him to stay on the roll. But I thought that line again had a tough matchup and they did well.”

The Capitals took five minor penalties and lost for the third time in four games.

“It’s going to be tough sledding for us this year,” defenseman Matt Niskanen said. “We’re going to have to work really hard to be consistent because it’s not going to be easy for us. We’re going to have to learn some tough lessons along the way.”

Goaltender Braden Holtby, who stopped 35 of 39 shots, thought he should’ve stopped Gaudreau’s off the rush but also allowed third-period goals to Backlund and Giordano.

“I need to make some saves,” Holtby said. “There’s some stoppable pucks there, and that’s the difference.”

The Flames’ power play was officially 2 of 5 with Giordano’s goal coming 1 second after ex-Calgary forward Alex Chiasson’s penalty expired. The Capitals’ power play went 0 for 3, a win for Calgary’s NHL-worst penalty kill.

“They did a great job tonight, especially with the Caps’ power play,” Gaudreau said. “They did a great job cleaning that up, and it was a big reason why we won tonight was the PK.”

That was a big reason, but so was the play of Gaudreau, Monahan and Micheal Ferland, who have a fan in 45-year-old legend Jaromir Jagr.

“They’re our top guys,” said Jagr, who had an assist in what could be his final visit to Washington, where he played parts of three seasons. “They play unbelievable. The way they play every night is the reason why we have the record we have.”

NOTES: Flames F Matthew Tkachuk had two assists in his return from a one-game suspension for his role in a brawl at Detroit last week. F Freddie Hamilton also played for the first time since Oct. 21 as Curtis Lazar and Matt Stajan were healthy scratches. ... Capitals coach Barry Trotz said D Christian Djoos, who’s out with an upper body injury that may be a concussion, hasn’t skated since being injured last week at Nashville.

UP NEXT

Flames: Continue their six-game trip Wednesday night at Columbus.

Capitals: Host Ottawa on Wednesday night.

Red Wings rout Flames 8-2

By BOB DUFF
Associated Press

DETROIT (AP) — Luke Witkowski called it old-time hockey. The Calgary Flames called it just plain stupid.

The Flames were unhappy with the way Wednesday night’s game against the Detroit Red Wings started, but they were appalled by the way it finished.

With 5:56 remaining in Detroit’s 8-2 victory, Red Wings forward Luke Witkowski went after Flames forward Brett Kulak. Their fight escalated into a full-fledged line brawl when Witkowski, who had been escorted off the ice by the linesmen, attempted to return to the fray and was jabbed by the stick of Calgary forward Matthew Tkachuk.

Witkowski was assessed a fighting major, two 10-minute misconducts and a game misconduct, and probably should expect to hear from the NHL about additional discipline.

“That’s what I like to call old-time hockey,” Witkowski said. “I think it’s good for the game. It brings fans into the sport.”

The Flames begged to differ, using other adjectives to describe the fight and Witkowski.

“Wisniewski, or whatever his name is, was just an absolute wrecking ball trying to start stuff, starting a complete circus with how many minutes left?” said Tkachuk, who was assessed a spearing major. “It’s a joke that a guy like that would ... just do something pretty stupid that kind of started everything. And then (he) turns back and chirps our whole bench, didn’t want to go anywhere, so I just went over there to give him a little poke and tell him just to get out of here.

“He was just looking for an excuse to come back. It’s just stupid.”

One of the other bouts saw Detroit’s Anthony Mantha and Calgary’s Travis Hamonic fall through an open gate near the Red Wings’ bench. Mantha fell on top, kept pounding away at Hamonic and was given a fighting major and two game misconducts.

“He’s a good, young player, but he’s a young player and he’ll learn that there’s a code in those sort of things,” Hamonic said. “He’ll be on the other side of it one day and realize that’s probably not the way you act.”

Mantha punished the Flames in the traditional manner as well, scoring a pair of power-play goals. He added an assist, giving him a Gordie Howe hat trick — a goal, an assist and a fight in the same game.

“I was joking with (Calgary’s Micheal) Ferland (who had a goal and an assist) before the third that we should go so we could both get our Gordie, but I was really thinking about getting a regular hat trick, not that one,” Mantha said.

Detroit coach Jeff Blashill was far more excited by the payload Mantha delivered with his gloves on.

“Having him net front on the power play has helped him learn the value of going to the net,” Blashill said. “I think that’s a huge part of Mantha’s development.

“He’s learned to be a weapon and when you’re a weapon there, you score goals.”

Andreas Athanasiou had a pair of goals, and Dylan Larkin, Luke Glendening, Justin Abdelkader and Gustav Nyquist also scored for Detroit.

Ferland and Johnny Gaudreau scored for the Flames.

For all intents and purposes the game was over by the end of the first period after the Red Wings raced to a 4-1 lead.

“I don’t think we were prepared to play,” Flames coach Glen Gulutzan said. “We were light on our sticks and that was evident in the goals.

“We were getting embarrassed and we weren’t competing.”

NOTES: Detroit D Trevor Daley left in the second period with an upper-body injury. ... Wearing a protective facemask, Abdelkader (broken cheekbone) returned to action after missing one game.

UP NEXT

Flames: At the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday afternoon.

Red Wings: Host the Buffalo Sabres on Friday night in the third game of a five-game homestand.

Jankowski, Versteeg lead Flames to wild 7-4 win over Blues

Associated Press

CALGARY, Alberta (AP) — Patience is starting to pay off for Mark Jankowski.

The rookie had two goals and an assist, Kris Versteeg scored the winner with 5:31 left and the Calgary Flames scored five times in the third period to beat the St. Louis Blues 7-4 on Monday night.

The Flames are finally getting secondary scoring with the line of Jankowski, Jaromir Jagr and Sam Bennett leading the way in their third game together.

“We’ve got a few games under our belts with my two linemates now and we’re really clicking,” Jankowski said. “We knew we were getting our chances and the goals would come if we kept playing that way.”

In a wild third period, the Flames took the lead twice only to see the Blues come back to tie it each time. Calgary finally went in front for good when Versteeg’s shot off the wing beat goalie Jake Allen.

“Big win for us. We knew how good they’ve been playing,” Versteeg said.

Bennett scored his first of the season for Calgary, and Micheal Ferland got his fourth goal in four games. Johnny Gaudreau and Michael Frolik also scored as the Flames finished 5-2-0 on their longest homestand of the season.

Gaudreau had two points to extend his point streak to seven games (five goals, seven assists).

Vladimir Tarasenko scored twice for St. Louis (13-5-1), and Jaden Schwartz and Alexander Steen also scored.

“We got what we deserved tonight,” Blues coach Mike Yeo said. “We just weren’t ready to play and that was evident right from the drop of the puck. We were very fortunate to tie the game up in the third period on a couple occasions — very, very fortunate.”

Bennett put the Flames in front 3-2 to open the third-period barrage when his backhand of Jankowski’s shot slipped through Allen’s pads.

Steen tied it at 11:46 and then Ferland’s power-play goal restored Calgary’s one-goal lead at 12:31. But 12 seconds later, Tarasenko one-timed a pass from Schwartz to tie it again.

“We just played sloppy the whole time. We played into their hands and we were just very careless,” Blues center Paul Stastny said. “We did a good job of coming back and being resilient after we let up what was a questionable goal on the penalty, but we came right back and scored a big goal. Then, just made two careless turnovers. It was just what we did all night.”

Mike Smith, who has started 16 of Calgary’s 17 games this season, left after the first period with an undisclosed injury. Eddie Lack played the final 40 minutes, stopping 13 of 15 shots for his first win with the Flames.

“It’s just very nice to get that first win,” Lack said. “It’s obviously not the way that I thought it was going to be, for sure, and I didn’t play my best game, but I felt I made a huge save when it mattered the most there in the third.”

St. Louis had a great chance to tie it with just more than five minutes left when Lack robbed Dmitrij Jaskin on a backhand in front.

Allen stopped 30 of 36 shots.

St. Louis opened the scoring 3:32 in on its first shot. Colton Parayko crossed the blue line and dropped the puck to Tarasenko, who beat Smith from 40 feet on a high wrist shot over his blocker.

Jankowski scored the next two goals to give Calgary its first lead of the night. With the teams playing four skaters aside, he hammered a slap shot over Allen’s glove at 4:54. Jankowski then took a slick pass from Jagr and scored on deke at 13:45.

“Time to tighten up. I think we’re giving them all their opportunities,” Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo said. “Most of them are just puck errors. Our goalies can only stop so many great opportunities.”

NOTES: Sean Monahan had his six-game point streak snapped. ... Flames D Travis Hamonic (lower body) returned after missing three games. ... St. Louis inserted RW Beau Bennett for Magnus Paajarvi. It was Bennett’s 100th NHL game. ... Tarasenko moved onto a line with Steen and Stastny.

UP NEXT

Blues: At the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday night.

Flames: Open a six-game road trip Wednesday in Detroit.

Flames end home stretch vs. Blues

Stats, LLC

CALGARY, Alberta -- The Calgary Flames will face a tough test against the St. Louis Blues on Monday night to wrap up their seven-game homestand at the Scotiabank Saddledome.

After dropping a 5-2 decision to the Blues (13-4-1) on Oct. 25 in St. Louis, the Flames (9-7-0) returned home and have won four of their past six games, including a 6-3 victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday.

Since then, they've had three days off to prepare for the Blues, whose three-game winning streak ended Saturday with a 5-2 loss at home to the New York Islanders.

"It will be a big match for us considering what happened in St. Louis," said Calgary coach Glen Gulutzan, who liked his team's effort through two periods in St. Louis. "We didn't like our third period in that game."

While Gulutzan has been happy with his team's 4-2 record during the lengthy homestand, he hasn't been pleased with the number of quality scoring chances the Flames have given up.

"We feel that we're one of the top teams creating chances, but we're one of the bottom teams in giving them up right now," Gulutzan said. "We don't think, with the players that we have, that we should be in that situation.

"Five-on-five, we think we can be a lot tighter group. If we're generating at the rate we are and we can be even 20 percent better (defensively), we think we can really get on a roll."

After missing Calgary's last three games with a lower-body injury, defenseman Travis Hamonic will be a game-day decision as to whether he plays against the Blues.

"I'm feeling good," Hamonic said. "I feel like I'm back up to where my body feels it needs to be."

While out of the lineup, Hamonic looked on from the press box as the Flames won two of three games and outscored their opponents 14-12.

"We're scoring some goals now and the games have kind of opened up," he said. "I think defensively now we want to try and reel it in as a group collectively. We don't want to be giving up four and having to win games 5-4 or 6-4."

After his team suffered just its second three-goal loss of the year, St. Louis coach Mike Yeo vowed that the Blues will bounce back with a better effort against the Flames.

"We'll hit the ice for practice and get ready for a tough road trip here," said Yeo, whose squad will also play the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday and the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday.

"We're a team that presses and we're a team that attacks, but we do it with control. I don't think we had any control (against the Islanders)."

Although defenseman Jay Bouwmeester (ankle) and forward Patrik Berglund (shoulder) aren't expected to play on the trip, both injured players accompanied the team out west.

Bouwmeester told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that he doesn't feel there's a big rush for him to get back in the lineup.

"We're in a position here (and) the team's doing so good, there's no pressure to force anything," said the former Flames defenseman who fractured his ankle just three days into training camp during a scrimmage.