In Tampa Bay Thursday, the Calgary Flames burned brighter than the Lightning in a 5-1 thumping.
Johnny Gaudreau had a goal and two points in 5-1 Flames win over Tampa Bay Thursday night – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
Mike Smith made 33 saves to help Calgary improve to 23-16-4.
“I thought [Smith] and the penalty kill were the difference here,” Calgary coach Glen Gulutzan said. “I thought the turning point was the penalty-shot save (against Cedric Paquette at 5:15 of the second period). They were out-chancing us there, but I thought we capitalized on our chances. So, we’ll take the win.”
Johnny Gaudreau, Micheal Ferland and Mark Jankowski eahad multi-point nights with a goal and two points each.
Sam Bennett and Matthew Tkachuk added single markers for the Flames in the win.
Brayden Point scored the lone Lightning goal in the loss.
The Flames scored twice in the second and third periods and played especially well in the third period, limiting the Lightning chances.
“I thought that was one of the better third periods we’ve played with a lead,” Smith said. “I think it’s always nice when you have the lead, is to go get another goal. We did that tonight and kept building on our lead against a very good team.”
[WATCH: All Flames vs. Lightning highlights]
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 19 saves in the loss and has been vulnerable of late.
“So far, the guys are playing well and are trying to do everything to keep the puck out of our net,” Vasilevskiy said. “But sometimes games like this are going to happen. You can see in the last couple of games that I’ve played, tips, bad breaks, bounces, all this stuff, and it ends up in the back of our net.”
The Bolts’ Victor Hedman left in the game in the second period with an apparent leg injury.
“It didn’t look very good,” Tampa Bay captain Steven Stamkos said. “Obviously, we’re hoping and praying for the best news, but, you know, we’ll have to wait and see.”
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