Flames 5, Penguins 2
CALGARY, Alberta -- Sam Bennett and Sean Monahan both scored highlight-reel goals to lead the Calgary Flames to a 5-2 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins at the Scotiabank Saddledome on Saturday night.
Bennett, a natural center playing on left wing, made a nice toe-drag move around Pittsburgh defenseman Ian Cole before flipping the puck just over goaltender Mark-Andre Fleury's left pad to put the Flames up 3-1 late in the first period.
Monahan, who plays center on the Flames' top line, then extended Calgary's lead to 4-1 at 9:05 of the second period when he batted the puck out of mid-air past Fleury. Left winger Johnny Gaudreau, who also scored twice, set up the goal by also batting it out of the air over to Monahan.
Center/left winger Joe Colborne also scored for the Flames (5-9-1), who have won two straight games and three of their past four. It was Calgary's first win over Pittsburgh since Dec. 3, 2005 and first at the Saddledome since Dec. 7, 2003.
Center Mikael Backlund also had a productive game as he chipped in with three assists, while goalie Karri Ramo stopped 22 of 24 shots he faced to improve his record to 3-4-0.
Right winger Phil Kessel and center Nick Bonino scored for the Penguins (9-5-0), who had won nine straight games against the Flames dating back to Dec. 6, 2007.
Fleury made 26 saves for the Penguins, who had their six-game winning streak snapped.
Trailing 4-2 after two periods, the Penguins pressed hard to narrow the gap but weren't able to get any pucks past Ramo, while Gaudreau was able to secure the victory for the Flames with an empty-net goal at 17:41.
Colborne opened the scoring at 7:37 of the first period when he took a backhand pass from Bennett before snapping a shot just under Fleury's glove and into the net.
Kessel responded for the Penguins at 13:06 of the first when he skated out from behind the Calgary net before turning and firing a low shot past Ramo inside the far post.
The Flames answered back with a power-play goal at 16:21 when Gaudreau tapped in a nice cross-crease pass from Monahan.
Just 50 seconds later, Bennett put the Flames up by a pair before Monahan extended Calgary's lead to 4-1 at 9:05 of the second.
After Bonino replied for the Penguins just over five minutes later, the Flames had a great chance to regain their lead when right winger David Jones was awarded a penalty shot with 17.7 seconds left in the middle period. Jones failed to capitalize on the breakaway opportunity though as his wrist shot sailed over the net high and wide.
NOTES: For the second straight game, Penguins rookie RW Daniel Sprong started in place of RW Pascal Dupuis, who was taken to the hospital on Friday prior to Pittsburgh's 2-1 road win over the Edmonton Oilers for precautionary measures after experiencing symptoms that the team stated "may or may not be related to his blood clot history." Tests came back negative, and Dupuis will be re-evaluated again in Pittsburgh. ... Also scratched for the Penguins was D Adam Clendening for the 10th straight game. ... Flames LW Mason Raymond drew back into the lineup for Calgary in place of LW Brandon Bollig, who missed out on a chance to play in his 200th NHL game. ... The Flames also scratched D Ladislav Smid. ... LW Micheal Ferland took part in Calgary's game-day skate, but didn't dress due to a lower-body injury that has kept him out of the lineup for eight games.