Blue Jackets 2, Flames 1
CALGARY, Alberta -- William Karlsson scored twice Friday to lift the Columbus Blue Jackets to a 2-1 win over the Calgary Flames.
The center converted a cross-ice pass from Matt Calvert on an odd-man rush at 1:42 of the third period. Karlsson had one goal in his past 29 games and now has six for the season.
The Blue Jackets (21-28-5) have won four of their past five games and have now won six straight games in Calgary, four of those coming in either overtime or a shootout.
Left winger Jiri Hudler scored for Calgary (22-25-3).
The teams are both in the running to land coveted American prospect Auston Matthews as the top pick in the 2016 NHL draft. They are both among six clubs tied with the fewest points in the NHL with 47.
The Blue Jackets continue to rely on Finnish rookie goaltender Joonas Korpisalo in goal because of injuries to their two veterans -- Sergei Bobrovsky and Curtis McElhinney.
With Korpisalo in goal the Blue Jackets are 4-1-1 in their past six games.
Korpisalo made 30 stops on Friday while his Finnish countryman, Karri Ramo, had 16 saves for the Flames.
Hudler scored just his seventh goal in 43 games at 7:09 of the first, snapping a shot over Korpisalo's glove from 15 feet out while in full stride after taking a pass from Monahan.
Karlsson took a nice feed from defenseman Seth Jones on a rush and banged it in to tie the game at 9:39 of the second.
NOTES: Out with injuries for Columbus were G Curtis McElhinney (ankle), G Sergei Bobrovsky (groin), RW David Clarkson (upper body) and D David Savard (oblique). Healthy scratches were RW Jared Boll and D Justin Falk. ... Calgary's scratches were LW Brandon Bollig, C Markus Granlund and D Jakub Nakladal. ... Nakladal would have made his NHL debut had TJ Brodie not been deemed healthy. Brodie left Wednesday's game against Nashville in the second period after taking a slap shot to the knee and did not practice Thursday with what the Flames originally feared was a serious injury. ... Friday's game was the second of Flames D Dennis Wideman's 20-game suspension for checking a linesman on Jan. 27. ... Friday's game was the Blue Jackets' 14th of 18 back-to-back games this season. ... LW Scott Hartnell, the Blue Jackets' leading scorer, is four goals from 300 for his career.