Karlsson strikes to take fire out of Flames
COLUMBUS 2 CALGARY 1
CALGARY — Columbus rookie William Karlsson broke out of a slump with two goals to lead the surging Blue Jackets to a 2-1 victory over the Calgary Flames on Friday night.
Karlsson recorded the gamewinner 1:42 into the third period, taking advantage of a miscue by Dougie Hamilton. The Flames defenceman had the puck knocked off his stick at the Columbus blue line and on the subsequent odd-man rush, Matt Calvert set up Karlsson’s sixth goal of the season. The 23-year-old entered the night with one goal in his previous 30 games.
Columbus (21-28-5) picked up of six-of-eight points on a stretch of four straight road games. The Blue Jackets do not return to action until Tuesday when they host the New York Islanders. The Blue Jackets remain last overall due to having played more games, but a 4-1-1 record in their last six has them even in points with Calgary, Toronto, Winnipeg, Buffalo and Edmonton.
Jiri Hudler scored for Calgary (22-25-3).
The Blue Jackets tied it 1-1 at 9:39 of the second on another oddman rush, this one coming as a result of Calgary defenceman Ladislav Smid getting caught deep in the Columbus end.
On the ensuing two-on-one led by Seth Jones, the defenceman faked a shot, held the puck patiently, then neatly set up Karlsson, who put a one-timer past Karri Ramo inside the goal post.
Calgary led 1-0 after the first period. Sean Monahan fed a pass across to Hudler, whose shot deflected off the stick of Alexander Wennberg and beat Joonas Korpisalo over the shoulder.
That would be the only shot to beat Korpisalo, who had another great night with 30 saves.