In Columbus, the Blue Jackets had a 3-1 lead after the first period and increased that to 4-1 early in the middle frame.
It was almost as if everyone went home and left the Calgary Flames to continue on without them.
Trailing by three, the Flames reeled off five straight goals to take a 6-4 lead before the Jackets replied with a goal in the second to make it 6-5 heading to the third.
Mike Smith came into the game in releif and got the win in COlumbus – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
“We were down 4-1 in a tough barn to play in against a really good team, so for us to come out with two points was huge for us,” Mark Giordano said.
Sean Monahan and Johnny Gaudreau each had two goals in the win.
Matthew Tkachuk, Noah Hanifin, Elias Lindholm, TJ Brodie, and Austin Czarnik all scored single markers in the victory.
Calgary improved to 17-9-2 on the strength of their third straight win.
“We were bad in the first. There’s no sugarcoating it. We gave them a ton of chances. We weren’t moving very well. They were the better team. After their fourth goal we seemed to make the switch,” Giordano
said.David Rittich got the start for the Flames and made 11 saves in the first period; he was given the hook in the intermission and was replaced by Mike Smith.
Smith made 13 saves to get the win.
“It’s never easy to come off the bench,” Smith said. “Then the first shot, one goes in and you’re thinking, ‘Boy, oh boy, this is going to be a long one.'”
Cam Atkinson had a hat trick for the Blue Jackets.
“It was one of those games where I thought we played a good first period,” Atkinson said. “We kind of sat back and allowed them to play. I don’t think we checked hard. We made it a real easy game for them. Anytime you’re up 4-1 you should be able to lock it down.”
Zach Werenski, Josh Anderson and Nick Foligno got also scored for Columbus.
The Blue Jackets dropped to 15-10-2.
“I think this is a one-off,” Foligno said. “I don’t think this is a true testament of the way we play.”
Calgary scored three more in the third and Columbus could not catch up again as they dropped a 9-6 decision at home.
“It’s one of those games, but at 8-6, I think we still have a really good chance. They score the ninth one and take the wind out of our sails. Imagine me saying that,” Blue Jackets head coach John Tortorella said.
[WATCH: All Flames vs. Blue Jackets highlights]
Sergei Bobrovsky was the started for Columbus but and got the hook early in the third period; made 18 saves.
Joonas Korpisalo finished the game and yielded one goal on two shots.
“I fought all night long as far as ‘Should I take him?’, all night long, because you could see … some of them were deflected,” Tortorella said. “It was just one of those nights. He just didn’t look comfortable. I just decided to see if he could play through it.”
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