Canucks dumped by Flames for 3rd straight loss
Jagr records 1st point for Calgary in bounce-back win
VANCOUVER (CP) — The message to the Calgary Flames after Friday’s drubbing at the hands of the Ottawa Senators was simple — stay out of the penalty box.
They didn’t heed the message, but managed to survive this time around against a feeble Vancouver Canucks power play.
Dougie Hamilton had two goals and Jaromir Jagr recorded his first point for Calgary as the Flames defeated the Canucks 5-2 on Saturday night despite having to kill off five penalties in the opening 20 minutes.
“Our penalty killers, they did a good job, but we got lucky,” said Flames head coach Glen Gulutzan. “You can’t do that. We’re dodging bullets here and we’ve got to get that cleaned up.”
Mark Giordano, Johnny Gaudreau and Travis Hamonic also scored for Calgary (4-20), which got 27 saves from Mike Smith.
The Flames allowed two goals in seven man-advantage opportunities against Ottawa in a 6-0 loss on home ice 24 hours earlier, but were much better against the Canucks, who finished 0-for-7 with just three shots.
Derek Dorsett and Brock Boeser replied for Vancouver (1-2-1), while Jacob Markstrom stopped 22 shots as the Canucks dropped their third straight at home, and second in regulation, after opening the season with a victory over Edmonton at Rogers Arena.
“We had a good opportunity in the first period . . . you get five power plays against a team that played last night, we need to get a goal,” said Vancouver head coach Travis Green. “They got some momentum off their penalty kill.”
“You’re not going to win a lot of games if that happens,” forward Daniel Sedin said of the Canucks’ struggles on the power play. “Five on five, I thought we played good enough to win, we had enough chances to score. You have to capitalize.”
Playing their third game in four nights in three different cities, the Flames made it 4-1 at 10:14 of the third when Gaudreau scored a power-play goal on a pass that went in off Vancouver defenceman Michael Del Zotto after taking a feed from the Jagr. The Czech winger signed a one-year deal with Calgary earlier this month.
The point was the 1,915th of the 45-year-old’s career in his third game with the club.
“It was nice to see,” said Giordano. “He has so many (points), I’m sure it’s not as big of a deal for him, but it’s pretty cool for us.”
Boeser responded nine seconds later with a quick shot that beat Smith past his glove, but Hamilton put any thoughts of a comeback to rest when his shot beat Markstrom just 48 seconds after that.
NOTES: With defenceman Alexander Edler out four to six weeks with a sprained knee, Derek Pouliot suited up for his first game for Vancouver . . . . The Canucks played most of the night with 11 forwards after Loui Eriksson left in the first period with a knee injury.