Flames edge Predators to cap winning trip
Mark Jankowski broke a tie early in the third period, and Curtis Lazar netted the winner as the visiting Calgary Flames held on for a 4-3 win over the Nashville Predators on Thursday night.
Flames goalie David Rittich made 29 saves at Bridgestone Arena, 16 of them in the third period, as Calgary concluded a 4-2-0 road trip on a high.
Jankowski finished a brilliant three-way passing play to give the Flames their first lead of the night 3:24 of the third period, set up by Matthew Tkachuk for an easy redirection and a 3-2 edge.
Lazar made it a 4-2 Calgary lead 10:14 of the final period with a gift of a goal. Predators goalie Pekka Rinne was beaten by a floater of a shot.
Nick Bonino made it a 4-3 game at 12:19 of the third, taking advantage of a David Rittich miscue while playing the puck and having an easy tap-in goal. However, the hosts couldn't find the equalizer.
It was a back-and-forth affair. Nashville's Ryan Johansen opened the scoring at the 13:45 mark of the first period, diving to push home a puck that was sitting in the crease. Johansen wound up with a two-point game.
Tkachuk responded for Calgary with a power-play goal with 44 seconds remaining in the first period, chipping a loose puck into the net for his 21st goal of the campaign.
Yanick Weber restored the Nashville lead 9:30 into the second period when he was able to bury a rebound after Viktor Arvidsson rang a shot off the post while on a breakaway.
Dougie Hamilton again evened the score exactly five minutes later. During a five-on-three power play, Hamilton wired a top-corner wrister. Calgary scored two power-play goals in a game for first time since New Year's Eve.
Calgary's Johnny Gaudreau collected one assist to give him an eight-game point-scoring streak in which he has netted four goals and 11 points. Flames center Sean Monahan had two points.
Rinne stopped 27 shots for the Predators.
--Field Level Media