Monahan lifts Flames past Caps

Sean Monahan scored the winner 9:09 into the third period as the Calgary Flames broke a four-game home losing streak with a 2-1 win over the Washington Capitals on Sunday night.

The goal was set up by Johnny Gaudreau, who carried the puck in on the rush. After not finding anyone open, he curled back at the face-off dot and tried again, this time spotting Monahan alone at the far post. All the Flames’ leading goal scorer had to do was slide in his sixth of the year.

It was the 11th assist for Gaudreau, who leads the team with 14 points.

Micheal Ferland also scored for Calgary (6-6-0). The Flames improve to 1-1-0 on a sevengame homestand, which continues on Thursday when the Pittsburgh Penguins visit.

Jakub Vrana scored for Washington (5-6-1). The Capitals finish 1-2-0 on their three-game road trip through Western Canada.

The Flames took a 1-0 lead into the third period, before Washington tied it at 4:19. TJ Brodie’s outlet pass to Matthew Tkachuk along the sideboards bounced off him and back towards the slot where T.J. Oshie set up Vrana. The rookie fired a shot that slipped under the glove of Mike Smith.

But that was the only puck to elude Smith, who was making his league-leading 11th start. Acquired in the off-season in a trade with Arizona, Smith has been the Flames best player all season and he was excellent again against the Capitals.

Smith improves his season save percentage to .931.

Calgary opened the scoring 2:08 into the second. Defenceman Brett Kulak, who had just stepped onto the ice, kept the puck in at the blue line and fired a quick shot towards the net that Ferland neatly deflected past Philipp Grubauer.

With Braden Holtby getting the night off after beating Edmonton 5-2 on Saturday, Grubauer made his fourth start and finished with 36 stops.

Grubauer’s best save, keeping the score 1-1 in the third, came when he jabbed out his glove to rob Mark Giordano after he was set up by Gaudreau on a rare 4on-1 rush.

Jets 7, Penguins 1

At Winnipeg, Captain Blake Wheeler scored three of Winnipeg's five first-period goals and the Jets went on to beat the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Brendan Lemieux scored his first career NHL goal for Winnipeg, on a slapshot from the point at 12:20 of the third period. The son of Claude Lemieux made his NHL debut with the Jets Oct. 20.

Andrew Copp, Joel Armia and Mark Scheifele rounded out the scoring.

The Jets (5-3-2) scored three goals in a span of just 34 seconds late in the first period to blow it open.

The Penguins (7-5-1), playing back-to-back road games after losing 2-1 in Minnesota Saturday, were on their heels from the start and didn’t score until Evgeni Malkin’s fifth of the season late in the second period.

The game doesn’t help Pittsburgh’s goal deficit in first periods this season. The Penguins have now been outscored 21-10 in the opening 20 minutes.