Flames beat Senators 5-1 for 3rd win in four games
CALGARY, Alberta (AP) — Elias Lindholm, Jonathan Huberdeau and Rasmus Andersson each had a goal and an assist, and the Calgary Flames beat the Ottawa Senators 5-1 Sunday night.
Trevor Lewis and Noah Hanafin also scored, and Nazem Kadri and Mikael Backlund each had two assists as the Flames won for the third time in four games. Jacob Markstrom stopped 30 shots.
“I thought we had good pace to our game all night,” Flames coach Darryl Sutter said. “When they did score, we came right back. … Marky made some big saves.”
Calgary remained six points behind Winnipeg — which who won 3-2 at Tampa Bay earlier Sunday — for the second wild card in the Western Conference.
“We got to collect points as much as we can here in the stretch,” Kadri said. “Overall, I think just the whole 60 minutes is pretty positive for us. We made a lot of great plays and hopefully its something we can build on.”
Tim Stutzle scored his 32nd goal for Ottawa, and Kevin Mandolese finished with 35 saves to lose for the second time in the rookie’s three career starts. The Senators have lost three of four after winning five straight.
The Senators are six points behind the New York Islanders for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference.
“We didn’t play our worst game but everything didn’t go the way we wanted it to,” Stutzle said. “The last two games aren’t the way we want to play. You just have to turn the page. But it’s definitely really frustrating right now.”
Adding to the challenge for the Senators is they also have to pass Florida and Washington, who are between them and the Islanders.
“We have a ton of belief in our group,” Ottawa defenseman Travis Hamonic said. “We’ve been resilient all season. We’ve played through a ton of adversity. We’ve clawed our way back into the race and into the conversation when everyone left us on the side of the road a couple months ago.”
Andersson opened the scoring with 7:51 left in the first as he got a pass back from Backlund on a rush and fired a shot past Mandolese from the slot for his ninth goal of the season.
Lindholm made it 2-0 as he scored from a sharp angle from the left side off a cross-ice pass across the front of the goal from Backlund for his 19th with 1:34 left in the first.
Stutzle took advantage of an unfortunate deflection by the Flames to get the Senators on the board at 5:55 of the second. Backlund’s pass behind the net hit off Markstrom’s leg and went in front of the net, where Stutlze tapped it into the open net.
Huberdeau redirected a pass from Kadri in the air over Mandolese’s shoulder to restore the Flames’ two-goal lead 1:08 later. It was his 13th.
“(Kadri) pass it to me and it hit the stick, I don’t know, I just try to deflect it a little bit,” Huberdeau said. “I got lucky with that, it finally went in. … It was quick. I’m glad it looked good.”
Sutter added: “That’s a big play in the game.”
Hanafin made it 4-1 as he got a pass from Kadri and beat Mandolese from the left circle for his fifth with 6:52 left in the middle period.
Lewis jumped on a loose puck in front and whipped it in for his ninth at 5:30 of the third to cap the scoring.
LINDHOLM’S MILESTONE GOAL
Lindholm’s goal was the 200th of his career — including 136 with the Flames. He’s fourth for the most goals by a Swede in franchise history behind Kent Nilsson (229), Hakan Loob (193) and Backlund (180).
POWER OUTAGE
The Senators went 0 for 4 with the man advantage and are now 0 for 20 over their last six games.
UP NEXT
Senators: At Edmonton on Tuesday night to finish a five-game trip.
Flames: At Arizona on Tuesday night to open a two-game trip.
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