Flames strike often in home win over Lightning

*Photo from the San Diego Union Tribune*

   By the time the clock expired, the Flames had made their impact. Tyler Toffoli had a goal and an assist, Rasmus Andersson had a goal and two assists, and the Calgary Flames defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning with a 6-3 victory on Saturday afternoon in Calgary.

   It was a back and forth game after two periods, until the Flames opened the floodgates with a 3 goal 3rd period, improving to 5-3-2 in their last 10 games. Toffoli and Andersson had multi point games for the Flames, as did Dillon Dube, who had a goal and an assist. Noah Hanifin collected 3 assists, and Andrew Mangiapane had two.

   Dube said of the win that "We competed every shift. We didn't take too many off and played the right way. There was a lot of compete from the guys out there today. We were really prepared to play and prepared to win. Really good job by our group."

   Nazem Kadri got the only goal of the first period, giving the Flames a 1-0 lead on the power play. Steven Stamkos and Vladislav Namestnikov scored to open the second period for the Lightning, putting them ahead 2-1. That was followed by goals from Toffoli and Andersson, giving the Flames a 3-2 lead with one period left.

   Dube scored 7:40 into the 3rd period, making it 4-2 on the eventual game winning goal. Anthony Cirelli scored his 3rd goal of the season, cutting into the deficit for the Lightning. After that, goals from Jonathan Huberdeau and Blake Coleman put the game away for the Flames, making the final score 6-3 in the win.

   Andersson said after the game that "It was a lot of emotion and a lot of goals. It was a fun one and a good thing we came out on top. We bounced back quick today, and I think we responded really well after their second goal, obviously. I'm proud of the guys. We bounced back quick and once we got the lead, we played really well, I thought."

   Drawing the start in goal for the Flames was backup goalie Dan Vladar, who was up to the task against the Lightning. Vladar made 21 saves on 24 shots, good for a .875 save percentage as his record improved to 9-4-4 in 15 starts and 17 appearances.

   In goal for the Lightning was a familiar face. Andrei Vasilevskiy started and got the loss to fall to 20-12-1 in 33 starts. Vasilevskiy stopped 35 out of the 39 shots on goal the Flames had, recording a .897 save percentage in the setback.

   Asked about what went wrong, Cirelli said that "I think we've just got to get back to playing our game, sticking to our structure for a full 60 minutes from the first puck drop to the last seconds of the game. Just playing our game no matter what the other team throws at us. We have such high belief in this room. We've just got to get back to work."

   Up next, the Flames get back on their schedule Monday night with a home tilt against the Columbus Blue Jackets, with Jacob Markstrom lined up to start. Vasilevskiy is projected to start for the Lightning against the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday night.