CALGARY — Elias Lindholm scored twice and added an assist on Wednesday to extend his goal streak to six games and lead the red-hot Calgary Flames to a 6-2 victory over the Anaheim Ducks for their eighth straight win.
For the Pacific Division-leading Flames, it’s their longest winning streak since rattling off 10 straight victories in 2016-17, which is tied for the franchise record. They’ve outscored teams 37-13 during this stretch.
Dillon Dube, Andrew Mangiapane, Johnny Gaudreau into an empty net, and Matthew Tkachuk also scored for Calgary (28-13-6) while defenceman Rasmus Andersson had a career-best three-point night with three assists.
Gaudreau (4-8-11), who also had two assists, and Lindholm (7-6-13), both extend their point streaks to eight games.
The Flames also continue their roll on home ice where they’ve also won eight games in a row. Calgary’s season-long seven-game homestand continues Saturday when they play host to Seattle in Mark Giordano’s return.
Sonny Milano and Isac Lundestrom scored for Anaheim (23-18-9), which opened up a three-game road trip through Western Canada. It’s been a quiet February so far for the Ducks with Wednesday being just their second game of the month. But they’re right back in action in Edmonton on Thursday.
In net, Jacob Markstrom made 26 stops in his 13th start in the last 14 games as he improved to 21-10-5.
Anaheim starter John Gibson was replaced by Anthony Stolarz halfway through the second period, after giving up four goals on 20 shots. He takes the loss to fall to 15-11-8.
The night began with some early adversity for the Flames as Lindholm was handed a double-minor for high-sticking 34 seconds into the game putting Anaheim’s sixth-best power play on the ice.
But the Ducks could only muster one shot during the extended man advantage and when they went back on the power play just a couple minutes later, they again were unable to generate much.
Meanwhile, Calgary was opportunistic with their chances with an extra man.
Up 1-0 after Dube opened deflected Andersson’s slapshot past Gibson at 5:34, the Flames got their first power play later in the first with Lindholm cashing in, sweeping a puck under Gibson from the side of the net.
After Milano’s goal 1:35 into the second made it 2-1, Lindholm restored the two-goal cushion on a nifty individual effort. As he skated through the neutral zone, he banked the puck off the side boards in the Ducks zone and then chased after it, stepping around defenceman Greg Pateryn, to collect the puck and then quickly put a shot into the top corner.
The Flames made it 4-1 just 41 seconds later when the power play made it two straight conversions on Tkachuk’s 23rd goal.
Calgary finished 2-for-5 on the power play while third third-best penalty kill went 5-for-5.
Anaheim got a short-handed goal 4:26 into the third to get back to within two goals, but the Flames scored twice late to finish it off.
Notes: Gaudreau’s two assists gives him 367 for his career, moving him past Giordano and into fifth on the Flames all-time assists list… During their eight-game win streak at home, Calgary has outscored its opponent 41-10… Mikael Backlund played his 791st career game, tying Theoren Fleury for fifth on the Flames all-time list.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 16 2022.
The Canadian Press