*Photo from the San Diego Union Tribune*
On Tuesday night in Calgary, it was a battle of some of the best teams in the NHL, but it didn't end up being much of a contest. Sean Monahan scored two goals, Blake Coleman scored, and the Calgary Flames defeated the Florida Panthers 5-1 on Tuesday night.
The win was necessary for the Flames, as they entered this home contest having lost 4 straight games. They were able to break out of the funk thanks to a two goal game from Monahan, plus a whopping 4 assists from Johnny Gaudreau. Matthew Tkachuk also added a goal and two assists as the Flames improved to 18-11-6 this season, 5th place in the Pacific Division.
Gaudreau said of ending the skid that "It's difficult sometimes when you're going through skids like that to wake up and come practice, but after a big win like that, the guys are excited, we're always excited to come to the rink, but there's kind of a different attitude when you're winning games."
Starting the scoring was Rasmus Andersson, who scored on the power play 4:36 into the game to give the Flames a 1-0 lead, assisted by Gaudreau and Tkachuk, Andersson's first goal of the season. Coleman scored 11:36 into the period to double the lead to 2-0, with Mikael Backlund and Andrew Mangiapane getting the assists.
In the second period, Sam Bennett got the Panthers on the board, scoring his 16th goal of the season 12:26 into the second, cutting the deficit to 2-1 thanks to assists from Carter Verhaeghe and Mason Marchment. The lead got back to 3-1 when Monahan scored on the power play 16:03 into the second period, his 5th goal of the season.
Beginning the 3rd period, Tkachuk widened the Flames lead to 3 goals, making it 4-1 on his 17th goal of the season, coming 3:47 into the 3rd period, with Gaudreau and Elias Lindholm assisting. Monahan then picked up his second goal of the night at the 6:43 mark of the 3rd, with Tkachuk and Gaudreau getting the assists.
Asked about how the game went, Tkachuk said that "I thought we just controlled most of the game in each period. I thought we won the first period, I thought we had a good start. Weathered the storm a little bit in the second period, got a late power-play goal, which set us up for the third, which was huge."
Getting the start in net for the Flames was Jacob Markstrom, who had a great performance at home for the win. Markstrom turned aside 28 of the 29 shots he faced, putting up a sterling .966 save percentage. With the win, Markstrom increased his record to 13-8-5 in 26 starts this season.
Opposing Markstrom on the other side of the ice was Spencer Knight for the Panthers, who got hit hard and took the loss. Knight saved 26 of 31 shots on goal that the Flames sent his way, good for a .839 save percentage in the loss. Knight saw his record drop to 7-5-2 in 12 starts.
Panthers forward Ryan Lomberg said of the loss that "I mean, as nice as it would be to go 82-0, you have ups and downs throughout the season, so it's just about how you respond. I think as a group we're putting that one behind us. We'll watch the video, put it behind us, and then onto the next one."
The Panthers stay in Alberta for a Thursday night matchup against the Edmonton Oilers, with Sergei Bobrovsky the likely starting goalie. The Flames also face the Oilers next, this one on Saturday night, with Markstrom to start in goal.
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