Jankowski sets it up for Calgary Flames
We knew how good they’ve been playing, teammate Versteeg says
Patience is starting to pay off for Mark Jankowski. The rookie had two goals and an assist, Kris Versteeg scored the winner with 5:31 left and the Calgary Flames scored five times in the third period to beat the St. Louis Blues 7-4 on Monday night.
The Flames are finally getting secondary scoring with the line of Jankowski, Jaromir Jagr and Sam Bennett leading the way in their third game together.
“We’ve got a few games under our belts with my two linemates now and we’re really clicking,” Jankowski said. “We knew we were getting our chances and the goals would come if we kept playing that way.”
In a wild third period, the Flames took the lead twice only to see the Blues come back to tie it each time. Calgary finally went in front for good when Versteeg’s shot off the wing beat goalie Jake Allen.
“Big win for us. We knew how good they’ve been playing,” Versteeg said.
Bennett scored his first of the season for Calgary, and Micheal Ferland got his fourth goal in four games. Johnny Gaudreau and Michael Frolik
Monday’s games:
Carolina Calgary 5 7 Dallas St.Louis also scored as the Flames finished 5-2-0 on their longest homestand of the season.
Gaudreau had two points to extend his point streak to seven games (five goals, seven assists).
Vladimir Tarasenko scored twice for St. Louis (13-5-1), and Jaden Schwartz and Alexander Steen also scored.
“We got what we deserved tonight,” Blues coach Mike Yeo said. “We just weren’t ready to play and that was evident right from the drop of the puck. We were very fortunate to tie the game up in the third period on a couple occasions — very, very fortunate.”
Bennett put the Flames in front 3-2 to open the thirdperiod barrage when his backhand of Jankowski’s shot slipped through Allen’s pads.
Steen tied it at 11:46 and then Ferland’s power-play goal restored Calgary’s onegoal lead at 12:31. But 12 seconds later, Tarasenko onetimed a pass from Schwartz to tie it again.
“We just played sloppy the whole time. We played into their hands and we were just very careless,” Blues centre Paul Stastny said.