Offence ignites to scorch sabres, snap 4-game skid
Big road victory in Buffalo helps team edge closer to elusive wildcard spot
BUFFALO Hopefully, they saved a few goals for next time.
The Calgary Flames blew off some steam with Wednesday’s 5-1 drubbing of the cellar-dwelling Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center, snapping out their four-game slide in dominant fashion.
“Even as a coach, and you’re not on the ice, you feel more confident going into your next game, so we just need to take a little bit of that,” said Flames bench boss Glen Gulutzan. “And we all know and we’ve talked about this before — our team, when they get confident, they can get on a real good run. We’ve done it before.”
Currently on the wrong side of the cut-off in the Western Conference playoff race, they need to do it again. Wednesday’s walloping of the Sabres is a good first step.
Flames rookie centre Mark Jankowski made it a memorable night, scoring once and collecting a helper in his return to a building where his family had season-tickets for several years.
Jankowski’s linemate Sam Bennett and captain Mark Giordano also both notched a goal and an assist apiece, while Sean Monahan and Dougie Hamilton provided the other lamp-lightings for the team.
In Calgary’s crease, David Rittich made 25 saves before Sabres defenceman Casey Nelson spoiled his shutout bid with only 17.2 seconds left on the score-clock.
“I have a win, so it’s a great feeling. I don’t really care about a shutout,” Rittich said. “We got two points, and that’s more important right now.
“I think the boys played one of the best games in front of me that I’ve played. So I need to say thankyou.”
Back in Calgary, hockey fans must have saying, “Thank goodness.”
The Flames arrived in Buffalo in a four-game funk — three straight regulation losses and then Monday’s 4-3 overtime bummer in Pittsburgh — but managed to flip their frowns by filling the net against the Sabres.
Thanks to Wednesday’s win, they are suddenly only one point out of a wildcard spot in the Western Conference, although they’ve played more games — two, in most cases — than any of the squads they’re chasing.
The 25-year-old Rittich likely needed a confidence-booster after losing his past four starts and his pals provided some early run support in Buffalo, with the Flames’ third line scoring on back-to-back shifts in the first period.
Sabres goalie Chad Johnson was in scramble-mode after Jankowski poked a puck into his crease, with Bennett arriving to fire a forehand from the edge of the blue paint for the opening strike.
On their next logging, Bennett fed Jankowski as he cruised into the high slot and he found the back of the net with a wrister, much to the delight of about 80 family members and friends in attendance.
The Flames turned it into a rout with three more markers in the middle stanza. Giordano buried a blast from the blueline, a slapper that glanced off the skate of a would-be shot-blocker.
Monahan snapped out of a fourgame drought just a minute later, ripping a top-shelf one-timer after a slick setup by all-star linemate Johnny Gaudreau.
With the Flames on the manadvantage after relief goalie Robin Lehner stiff-armed sophomore sparkplug Matthew Tkachuk, Hamilton made it 5-0.
“To get off to a good start early, that was big. And to not let up,” Jankowski said. “I think, after we got a couple, we could have laid back a little bit and maybe gave them a chance to get back in the game, but we didn’t do that. We stayed on them and pressed hard throughout the whole game.”
For the Flames, Wednesday’s showdown with the Sabres marked their first of four consecutive matchups against playoff outsiders.
They’ll wrap this three-game roadie with Friday’s clash against the Ottawa Senators at Canadian Tire Centre (5:30 p.m. MT, Sportsnet West/Sportsnet 960 The Fan). Back home, their next visits come from the New York Islanders and the arch-rival Oilers.
“They’re big games. I think it’s games that, I guess, we should win,” Hamilton said. “We just have to keep trying to do our thing, get the goals going in, and I think we’ll be OK.”
Our team, when they get confident, they can get on a real good run. We’ve done it before.
ICE CHIPS
Flames C Sean Monahan made an early exit Wednesday, retreating to the locker-room just past the midway point of the third. Gulutzan told reporters that his topline centre has been bothered by a nagging injury. “So hopefully it’s just precaution,” Gulutzan said. “I didn’t hear the final verdict.”