The Calgary Flames have started to round into more familiar form. Johnny Gaudreau scored twice, Karri Ramo made 23 saves and the Flames defeated the Penguins 5-2 at Scotiabank Saddledome. Sam Bennett and Sean Monahan each had a goal and an assist, and Joe Colborne also scored for the Flames, who have won back-to-back games for the first time this season. Calgary defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 2-1 on Thursday and has won three of four after starting the season with two wins in its first 11 games. The victory was the Flames' first in 10 games against the Penguins, dating to Dec. 5, 2005.
Phil Kessel and Nick Bonino scored for Pittsburgh, which saw its six-game winning streak end one victory shy of its longest streak under coach Mike Johnston. Pittsburgh won seven in a row from Oct. 25-Nov. 8, 2014, during Johnston's first season. The loss came in the second of back-to-back games for the Penguins, who won 2-1 at the Edmonton Oilers on Friday.
Colborne put the Flames ahead at 7:37 of the first period. Calgary continued applying pressure after Sidney Crosby's penalty expired, and Bennett backhanded a pass through the high slot to Colborne, whose wrist shot beat Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury. Kessel tied the game at 13:06 with a shot that slipped through Ramo's five-hole, but two goals 50 seconds apart late in the period put the Flames ahead to stay.
During Calgary's third power play, Mikael Backlund spotted Sean Monahan from below the goal line; he sent a cross-crease pass to a waiting Gaudreau for a quick one-timer that beat Fleury at 16:21. Bennett made it 3-1 when he took a pass from Michael Frolik at the Calgary blue line, skated up ice and toe-dragged around Ian Cole before a quick forehand-backhand move beat Fleury at 17:11.
Calgary made it 4-1 midway through the second period. Dougie Hamilton's initial shot was stopped, but the rebound popped off the stick of Gaudreau and into the air, where Monahan batted the puck with the shaft of his stick past Fleury at 9:05. With Bennett in the penalty box, Bonino beat Ramo short side over the shoulder at 14:17 to cut the lead to 4-2. But the Penguins, which entered the game losers of 36 straight when trailing after two periods, couldn't solve Ramo again. The Flames goaltender stopped Kessel's one-timer with a sharp stick save at 10:53, and Gaudreau capped the win by hitting the empty net with 2:19 remaining.
The Penguins are off until the Montreal Canadiens come to Consol Energy Center on Wednesday.
Pens Quotes
Eric Fehr: "Every team has back-to-backs. We've caught teams on the tail end of back-to-backs and they play hard. It is a tough trip coming out to Western Canada, but we've still got to battle. That's kind of the night it was. Pucks seemed to be hitting their sticks. Even a couple neutral zone ones where we had a good break. We thought we had a good chance and they knocked it out of the air and they knocked it back."
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