In Calgary, Sean Monahan scored a natural hat trick in the opening stanza to give the Winnipeg Jets a 3-2 lead over the Flames on Monday.
The problem for the Jets was they had no other lift in their game, and lost, 6-3, to Calgary.
Two of Monahan’s goals came off the power play.
The Flames rallied with two goals in each of the second and third periods.
Jacob Markstrom made 28 saves in the win..
The Flames moved to 26-25-5, snapping a three-game skid.
Oliver Kylington and Blake Coleman bookended the Monahan hat trick to keep the Flames in the game early.
“I think it shows a lot,” Kylington said. “We’ve had tough stretches of games in the past here, and we’ve been down and haven’t showed any character, and I think today we really did. I know this group can show character, and we just have to understand we have to do that for each other to win games, really, and be consistent about it.”
The Jets dropped to 33-15-5.
“That’s as soft a 5-on-5 game as we’ve played all year,” Winnipeg coach Rick Bowness said. “That’s not us at all. That didn’t even look like the Winnipeg Jets out there. But you know what? You flush it, and we’re going to get ready for tomorrow (against the Minnesota Wild).”
In the middle frame, Nazem Kadri hit for the first of his double on the night to tie the game, 3-3, at 4:58.
“Obviously, a bit of an adverse start to the game, but we fought back, had a big goal at the end of the first period, and we never looked back,” Kadri said. “We were, I thought, the better team against a great hockey team.”
Jonathan Huberdeau hit off the power play at 16:08 of the second to give the Flames a 4-3 lead.
In the third period, Andrew Mangiapane extended the lead to 5-3 at 13:18.
Kadri hit for double at 18:03 for the 6-3 final count on the scoreboard..
“I thought we were doing all right and kind of gave them their offense,” Monahan said. “That’s definitely not something you want to do. We were still in it and still had a chance. You have to fight to the end every night.”
Connor Hellebuyck, who made 28 saves in the loss.
“I think he should be right there in the Hart Trophy conversation,” the Jets’ Josh Morrissey said. “To me, it’s disappointing because those weren’t goals that I felt like he could stop. We gave them opportunities to score goals that were defensive breakdowns, and that’s on us, that’s not on him.”
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