In Calgary, Johnny Gaudreau hit for a hat trick on Thursday night to lead the Flames to a 4-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning,
“Just opportunities,” Gaudreau said. “On that first power-play goal, he (Andrei Vasilevskiy) was out of his net, he wasn’t on the post and I tried to bank it off his [rear end]. The second one was just pure luck, I just threw it right back in front of the net and it went off his hip or something and then it bounced in.”
Jacob Markstrom made 30 saves in the Calgary win.
“It’s always fun to play the teams that are in the top (of the standings), and Tampa is a team that has been at the top for a long time,” Markstrom said. “But you know, it still is two points; nothing more, nothing less.”
The Flames improved to 35-15-7.
Alex Killorn was the lone striker for the Lightning.
“Teams go through that stuff,” Tampa Bay’s Steven Stamkos said. “It’s 50-whatever (games) into the season and this is the first time we’ve lost back-to-back games. That’s pretty good. Teams go through tough stretches all the time.
“We’re going through a little bit of a bump right now. We’ll correct it, but it’s process over outcome at this point.”
Gaudreau scored his second of the night with one minute left in the middle frame for a 2-1 lead for the Flames.
Mikael Backlund scored with eight seconds left in the stanza for a 3-1 lead.
“You never want to give up a goal, let alone two, in the last minute of a period,” the Lightning’s Corey Perry said. “It’s just little mistakes here and there and it’s costing us right now. Teams are capitalizing on those. That was the ballgame tonight.”
Gaudreau finished his trick in the third period.
“Those are momentum goals, all of them,” Calgary coach Darryl Sutter said. “You need those out of your top guys. You don’t just score on the rush as the season goes on, you’ve got to score on O-zone play and forecheck play. They scored a power-play goal and then they scored deep goals. They’ve got to do that. Top players have to do that. That’s what the top guys do in this league.
“He’s a top player in the League. How’s he not a top player in the league? He has a chance of winning the scoring race on a good team. Top guys play on good teams. It makes a difference. That’s what their job is.”
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 28 saves in the Tampa loss.
“We know what we have to do,” Stamkos said. “These are little adverse moments throughout a season. It’s nothing to panic about. Lots of times throughout the course of seasons, even the seasons we’ve won, things like this have happened. It’s about learning from the mistakes you make in the games and just executing better.”
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