In Calgary, newly acquired Tyler Toffoli made his presence felt for th Flames on Tuesday. 
Toffoli scored the final goal of the game in a 6-2 win over the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets.
“Obviously coming to a really good team playing really good hockey right now, I was excited,” Toffoli said. “Playing good hockey and playing with the lead and doing all the little things that makes the team successful, and it was just another one of those nights.”
Dan Vladar made 18 saves in the Calgary win.
“A lot of positive vibes coming into the rink, but I think we’re moving on game to game, we’re trying to get better,” Calgary’s Dillon Dube said. “I think there’s some stuff we still need to clean up tonight.”
The Flames improved to 27-13-6.
Adam Boqvist and Zach Werenski were the Columbus strikers.
“They’re a powerhouse team and they’re adding to their group,” Columbus head coach Brad Larsen said. “They’re big, they’re strong, they’ve got a good balance of veteran guys. It’s a pretty deep team. We can’t have anybody not on board in that game, not one, to stay with them for 60 (minutes). I think they’ve won six or seven in a row now, they’re rolling pretty good. Your margin for error is very small.”
Columbus dropped to 23-23-1.
Erik Gudbranson and Elias Lindholm staked the Flames to an early 2-0 lead.
“Between periods I told him it was a [heck] of a shot,” Larsen said. “What do you say? He’s not trying to one-time it, he’s going back. It’s a reactionary thing, you’re trying to clear it, he buries it. There’s no point in getting mad over it. It’s not a turnover. It’s not one of those situations you’re frustrated. It’s unfortunate. If anything, it was more of a joke. It was what it was. Things like that happen.”
Matthew Tkachuk and Dube (shorthanded) scored to give the Flames a 4-1 lead after Boqvist scored for Columbus.
“It’s good momentum for us for sure. It’s tough for them,” Dube said. “Any goal, even strength, shorthanded, in the last minute, it’s hard going into the third and losing some momentum, but great for us.”
Adam Ruzicka also scored for Calgary.
Elvis Merzlikins made 35 saves in the Jackets loss.
“We put in some good minutes and kind of shot ourselves in the foot with some of the turnovers, power play, they score a shorthanded goal,” Werenski said. “It’s frustrating, but we’ve played some good hockey as of late. We can learn from this and move by it. We just have to get back on track.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.