Flames outshine Stars, 5-1

In Dallas, the visiting Calgary Flames exchanged opening goals with the Stars and then reeled off four unanswered strikes in a 5-1 win on Sunday.

avid Rittich made 26 saves to get the win.

“I liked our first [period] a lot, the majority of our second period, and we liked the third period as well,” Flames coach Geoff Ward said. “All in all, it was a really good game for us. We have to refocus quickly and get ready for tomorrow.”

Denis Gurianov had the lone Stars goal.

“It’s tough,” Gurianov said. “I mean, we’ve lost two games. We had goals and other penalties. It’s kind of tough trying to get goals on the penalty kill and tough to get the game back.”

Matthew Tkachuk had three points on the night with a goal, andSean Monahan collected a goal and two points in the win.

Elias Lindholm chipped in three assists for Calgary.

“We’re off our game, clearly, these last three games,” Stars head coach Rick Bowness said. “This is obviously not the way we wanted to go into the break, but it is. We will come back on [Dec. 27] in a better frame of mind and get back on track.”

The Flames struck three times with the extra skater.

“I thought the special teams were good,” Tkachuk said. “Our penalty kill had a huge kill at the beginning of the third period, and I thought that set the tone for the rest of the period. Our power play was going and every time we were out there, the puck was snapping around pretty good.”

Andrew Mangiapane and Mikael Backlund also scored for the Flames.

“It’s huge,” Lindholm said of the power play. “It all starts with the face-off; we switched it up a little bit and we’re winning more pucks now. Hopefully, that creates more chances for us. Three goals today on the power play, so it was a good game.”

Derek Ryan added a shorthanded goal with an empty-net strike late in the third period.

[WATCH: All Flames vs. Stars highlights]

Ben Bishop made 25 saves in the loss.

“The NHL is all about the little things,” Stars defenseman Roman Polak said. “We just need to focus more on the little things and play together more.”