Flames handle Kings, 4-1

In Calgary, Mikael Backlund struck twice for the Flames in a 4-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings.

Mike Smith made 13 saves, yes 13, in the win.

“Through 40 (minutes) it didn’t seem like much was going on,” Smith said. “It was a pretty boring game to be honest. But saying that, that can lead to some inconsistencies in your game, and I thought our guys did a really good job of sticking with it. That’s a team … they’ve been like that for how long now? Just a team that waits for you to make a mistake and make you pay. Tonight the guys did a really good job just being patient and keep doing what we were doing.”

Mike Smith made 13 saves in win over LA – file photo by Lewis Bleiman

Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahanalso scored for Calgary who had an easy time of it.

“We’re a confident group,” Monahan said. “You come to the rink every day and you want to win. I think with the group we have in here, the guys that are in here coming to compete every day, we have a good chance every night.”

Adrian Kempe scored the lone LA goal.

“In the first two periods it felt like we were buzzing a little bit, but we definitely need more shots,” Los Angeles’ Alex Iafallo said. “We needed to get more shots on net, quality shots too, making sure we were driving the net hard.”

Never mind quality shots, just get something on net.

The Flames improved to 15-9-2.

“It was just nice to finally put one in there,” Gaudreau said. “I don’t know how it went in. I mean, through his skate and knee … just the way I think I was going to get one that game if I was going to get one. It was going to be a greasy one like that.”

LA dropped to 9-16-1.

“We stuck with it. It was a little bit of a boring game there throughout two. But when it mattered most in the third we played hard. We had our strongest period in the third, which is a good sign. I think our team played well tonight. It was a big, big two points,” Gaudreau said after the win.

[WATCH: All Kings vs. Flames highlights]

Calvin Petersen made 33 saves in the loss.

“I think the game was obviously up for grabs the whole third period. They had some momentum, but we did a fairly good job of weathering the storm and we were just looking for a little bit of a break there. It was unfortunate that we couldn’t kill that one (power play) off,” Petersen said.