Flames too hot to handle for Chicago
CHICAGO: Elias Lindholm scored the go-ahead goal on a power play, Johnny Gaudreau had a goal and two assists, and Jacob Markstrom made 30 saves to lift the visiting Calgary Flames to a 5-1 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday night.
Persistence paid off as the Flames beat Blackhawks goaltender Arvid Soderblom twice in the second period of his first NHL start to seize control.
Calgary surged ahead on a powerplay goal at 9:08 minutes of the second when Lindholm buried a one-timer from Sean Monahan.
Late in the period, less than one minute after the Flames’ Nikita Zadorov was whistled for tripping, Calgary converted a short-handed goal as Blake Coleman won a puck battle in the corner to assist on a tally from Trevor Lewis.
Soderblom made 37 saves on Sunday, including a stop of Dillon Dube on a penalty shot with 7:46 minutes remaining in regulation.
The Blackhawks opened the scoring at 9:41 minutes of the first period as Alex DeBrincat converted a centring pass from Patrick Kane for his club-leading 18th goal of the season.
Calgary answered just more than three minutes later when Gaudreau took a bank pass off the offensive end boards and found Matthew Tkachuk.
Oliver Kylington scored an emptynetter with 1:55 minutes left in the game before Gaudreau capped the scoring 29 seconds later.
In Las Vegas, Kyle Connor scored with 2:21 minutes remaining in overtime to give the Winnipeg Jets a 5-4 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights.
Connor deked around Jonathan Marchessault at centre ice and then went in on a two-on-one rush with Josh Morrissey before ripping a wrist shot from the right circle past Laurent Brossoit’s blocker side for his 19th goal of the season and the game-winner.
Paul Stastny, Andrew Copp, Jansen Harkins and Kristian Reichel scored goals for Winnipeg, who were playing their first game since Dec 17 due to Covid-19 postponements. Connor Hellebuyck stopped 42 of 46 shots while Morrissey added two assists.
Mattias Janmark scored twice in the third period for Vegas to force overtime, Michael Amadio had a goal and an assist and Evgenii Dadonov also scored as the Golden Knights lost for just the third time in 13 games.