In Calgary, Jacob Markstrom made 46 saves in a 5-2 win for the Flames over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday night.
Noah Hanifin and Rasmus Andersson kicked in a goal and two points apiece in the Calgary win.
“I think it was a good game,” Hanifin said. “They have a really good team. They have a lot of skill. They definitely got some chances. ‘Marky’ once again played great for us, made some big saves, but I thought we played a good game. I think we did some really good things.”
The Flames moved to 25-13-6.
Rasmus Sandin and Michael Bunting were the Maple Leafs goal scorers.
“We got the goal and we let up for a bit there and made mistakes, big mistakes,” Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said. “The mistake on a backcheck on the first goal. Mistake on a face-off play that we talked about before the game on the second goal. Bit of a lazy penalty on the third goal that ends up in our net, and then a breakdown in the neutral-zone coverage on the fourth. So we make mistakes at a time when we were playing a good game.”
The Maple Leafs dropped to 30-11-3.
“It just shows you the growth we need to have if we want to be the team we want to be,” Toronto’s John Tavares said. “Disappointing to be in control of a game like that. It’s disappointing, especially the way we were playing, doing a lot of good things. That’s what we have to overcome if we want to be the team we want to be.”
The Leafs took a 1-0 lead in the middle frame off a goal from Sandin, but Andrew Mangiapane tied the match just 24 seconds later.
Hanifin and Oliver Kylington scored to give the Flames a 3-1 lead in the same period, the strikes were 32 seconds apart.
“We’re rolling all three pairs,” Hanifin said. “Everyone’s contributing in different ways. And it’s nice when we’re helping out offensively a bit as well. I think all the defensemen contributed tonight.”
Calgry hit for four goals in the second period.
“Once we get the first one it felt like we’re rolling and we’re rolling and we’re rolling,” Andersson said. “They take a timeout after the third one and we go out and score the fourth one and then the fifth one.”
Elias Lindholm also scored for the Flames, his third period goal gave them a 5-1 lead.
Jack Campbell made 21 saves in the Toronto loss.
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