Elliott hot in goal as Flames blanks Jets
WINNIPEG, Manitoba -- The Calgary Flames are heating up at the right time as they rattled off their ninth consecutive victory with a 3-0 decision over the Winnipeg Jets.
Brian Elliott stopped 31 shots in the victory for his second shutout in three nights with center Mikael Backlund scoring the winner. Dougie Hamilton led all scorers with a trio of assists.
At the other end of the ice, Connor Hellebuyck stopped 26 of 29 shots.
After an emotional game against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday, the Jets seemed to be running on empty. The only spark came late in the second period when defenseman Jacob Trouba took exception to a slash from center Sam Bennett in front of the Jets' net and the two engaged in a wild fight full of haymakers and blood on both sides.
The Flames blew out whatever air was left in the building when Monahan carried the puck over the Jets blueline and feathered a pass to fourth-line right winger Alex Chiasson, glided in untouched to the left circle and ripped a wrist shot past Hellebuyck for his ninth goal of the season. Hamilton got the second assist.
The Flames opened the scoring on their first power play in the opening period with Jets defenseman Ben Chiarot off for interference.
Hamilton corralled the puck just to the left of Hellebuyck and rang it off the post but the rebound landing right on Backlund's stick. The center had no trouble putting his 21st goal of the season into largely empty net at 14:06.
The Flames had Chiarot to thank for their second goal, too. He was off for four minutes for drawing blood when high-sticking center Sean Monahan when Hamilton got things going once again.
Hamilton's shot from in close to Hellebuyck's right was stopped but the rebound popped out to former Jet Michael Frolik, who roofed a backhand for his 15th of the season at 12:09 of the second period.
NOTES: With C Nic Petan returning to the lineup, it's back to the press box for RW Chris Thorburn. He's joined by G Ondrej Pavelec and D Julian Melchiori, who was called up from the Manitoba Moose after Toby Enstrom suffered a concussion against Pittsburgh on Wednesday. ... Joining them from the Flames are C Curtis Lazar, C Freddie Hamilton, D Michael Stone and newly-recalled D Rasmus Andersson. ... Once the Flames made it to the 40-minute mark with the lead, the game was a virtual fait accompli as the Flames are 27-0-1 this season when leading after two periods. On the flipside, the Jets were 5-26-2 when trailing after 40 minutes. ... Both the Jets and Flames franchises originated in Atlanta.