In Calgary, Rasmus Andersson and Elias Lindholm scored in the first period for the Flames for a 2-0 lead over the visiting Ottawa Senators on Sunday.
The Sens were only able to muster a single goal, scored by Tim Stützle in the second period to make the score, 2-1, as the Flames added three more for a 5-1 win.
Jacob Markstrom made 30 saves in the Calgary win.
“Big win for us,” Calgary’s Nazem Kadri said. “We’ve got to collect points as much as we can this stretch. But overall, just the whole 60 minutes was pretty positive for us. Made a lot of great plays. Hopefully, it’s something we can build on.”
The Flames improved to 30-24-13.
The Flames are now five points back of the Colorado Avalanche for the second wild card spot in the Western Conference.
“We’ve got to keep going,” Andersson said. “We’ve got to focus on ourselves and get every point we can get. There’s 15 games left. We’ve got to battle night in, night out. We’ve got to get all the points we can get. I think this is a game we can build off, for sure.”
Ottawa dropped to 33-29-4, they dropped to 1-3-0 on a five-game roadie.
“There’s parts of the game we need to clean up,” Ottawa forward Austin Watson said. “That being said, you do have to address it and have a short memory because this time of year the next one matters as much as any of the rest. It’s tough. It [stinks]. It’s back-to-back games of outcomes that you don’t want.”
Without collecting any points on Sunday, Ottawa is still six points back of the New York Islanders for the second wild card slot in the Eastern Conference.
“We have a ton of belief in our group,” Senators defenseman Travis Hamonic said. “We’ve been resilient all season. We’ve played through a ton of adversity. We’ve clawed our way back into the race and into the conversation when everyone kind of left us on the side of the road a couple months ago. That’s something that we have an abundance of, I’d say, in our room. We know. The proof’s in the pudding.”
Jonathan Huberdeau scored at 7:03 of the second period to restore the Flames’ two-goal lead, 3-1.
“‘Naz’ passed to me and it kind of hit their stick or something. I don’t know,” Huberdeau said. “I tried to deflect it a little bit and kind of got lucky with that. Finally went in. Might’ve looked sick. I just tried to deflect it. It was quick. I’m glad it looked good.”
The Flames made it 4-1 on a strike by Noah Hanifin at 13:08 of the middle frame.
“Couple good bounces, good plays, and a couple unlucky bounces,” Andersson said. “We stuck with it. We made some good plays and we got rewarded tonight.”
In the third stanza, Trevor Lewis added a marker for the 5-1 final at 5:30.
Kevin Mandolese made 34 saves in the Senators loss.
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