Rasmus Andersson, Elias Lindholm and Jonathan Huberdeau all collected one goal and one assist to lead the host Calgary Flames to a 5-1 win over the Ottawa Senators on Sunday.
Noah Hanifin and Trevor Lewis also scored for the Flames, who snapped a five-game home losing streak to give their playoff hopes a boost. Mikael Backlund and Nazem Kadri both collected a pair of assists. Goaltender Jacob Markstom made 30 saves in another strong performance.
Tim Stutzle scored the lone goal for the Senators, who lost games on consecutive nights and have dropped three of their last four outings. Goalie Kevin Mandolese, in his third career game, stopped 35 shots.
Andersson’s short-handed goal at the 12:09 mark of the first period opened the scoring. He joined a rush, and Backlund’s feed as he reached the slot left Andersson a golden opportunity to bury his ninth goal of the season.
Speaking of power-play goals, Lindholm doubled the lead with a man-advantage marker with 94 seconds remaining in the opening frame. Backlund’s cross-ice pass set up Lindholm for a tap-in tally to notch his 19th of the season and 200th in his career.
Stutzle’s lucky goal put the Senators on the board at 5:55 of the second period. Markstrom and Backlund crossed their wires, and the puck bounced right to Stutzle with a gaping net for his 32nd goal of the campaign.
However, Huberdeau answered 68 seconds later with a waist-high redirect into the top corner off Kadri’s pass for his 13th marker of the season.
Hanifin made it a 4-1 game just over six minutes later when he found a lane and was fed a pass by Kadri before finding the mark for his fifth goal of the season.
Lewis scored his ninth goal of the season at 5:30 of the third period to make it 5-1.
The loss took another toll on the Senators. Forward Mathieu Joseph left in the first period after suffering a lower-body injury when he was on the receiving end of a penalized cross-check from Tyler Toffoli, and Thomas Chabot departed in the third period with a left leg/foot injury.
–Field Level Media
