VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Even after winning a road game by three goals Saturday night, the Calgary Flames felt fortunate. Dougie Hamilton had two goals and an assist, and Jaromir Jagr got his first point for Calgary as the
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Even after winning a road game by three goals Saturday night, the Calgary Flames felt fortunate.
Dougie Hamilton had two goals and an assist, and Jaromir Jagr got his first point for Calgary as the Flames beat the Vancouver Canucks 5-2 despite having to kill off five penalties in the opening 20 minutes.
“Our penalty killers, they did a good job, but we got lucky,” Calgary coach Glen Gulutzan said. “You can’t do that. We’re dodging bullets here and we’ve got to get that cleaned up.”
Mark Giordano, Johnny Gaudreau and Travis Hamonic also scored for the Flames (4-2-0), who got 27 saves from Mike Smith. Vancouver finished an ugly 0 for 7 on the power play with just three shots on goal.
The previous night, the Flames allowed two goals in seven man-advantage opportunities against Ottawa during a 6-0 loss on home ice.
“Penalties are coming in bunches right now,” Giordano said. “We’ve got to move our feet more.”
Derek Dorsett and Brock Boeser had the goals for Vancouver (1-2-1). Jacob Markstrom stopped 22 shots.
The Canucks dropped their third straight home game, second in regulation, after opening the season with a victory at Rogers Arena.
“We had a good opportunity in the first period. … You get five power plays against a team that played last night, we need to get a goal,” coach Travis Green said. “They got some momentum off their penalty kill.”
Hamonic pinched down from the point and fired a quick shot through Markstrom to snap a 1-all tie at 10:57 of the second period after all five Canucks skaters collapsed below the hash marks on a scrum at the side of the net.
Smith, who made his sixth straight start to open the season despite allowing five goals on 22 shots Friday, robbed Boeser on a great glove save with just more than two minutes to go in the period.
That stop proved to be crucial as Hamilton’s drive from the blue line past Markstrom moments later at 17:59 stretched Calgary’s advantage to 3-1 through 40 minutes.
“Anytime you don’t play well, you want to get back in there as soon as possible,” Smith said. “We looked at the schedule coming up here — we have some days to practice and get some rest.”
Playing their third game in four nights in three different cities, the Flames made it 4-1 at 10:14 of the third. Gaudreau scored a power-play goal on a pass that went in off Vancouver defenseman Michael Del Zotto after taking a feed from Jagr.
The 45-year-old Czech forward signed a one-year deal with Calgary earlier this month and was playing his third game with the team. The point was the 1,915th of Jagr’s career.
“It was nice to see,” Giordano said. “He has so many, I’m sure it’s not as big of a deal for him, but it’s pretty cool for us.”
Boeser responded nine seconds later with a quick shot that beat Smith past his glove, but Hamilton put any thoughts of a comeback to rest when his shot beat Markstrom just 48 seconds after that.
“We talked before the game about being more disciplined, cut the penalties down,” Jagr said. “It didn’t really happen in the first period. After that it was OK.”
The Flames opened the scoring at 11:37 of the first on a short-handed 3-on-1 rush moments after the Canucks failed to register a shot on a 5-on-3 power play that lasted 1:11. With his team still down a man, Giordano took a pass from Freddie Hamilton and beat Markstrom to the short side for his 100th career goal.
Vancouver’s feeble attack registered one shot in a combined 8:49 of power-play time in the first. Calgary, meanwhile, had two short-handed shots before Dorsett made it 1-all late in the period at even strength.
“You’re not going to win a lot of games if that happens,” forward Daniel Sedin said of the Canucks’ struggles with the man advantage. “Five-on-five, I thought we played good enough to win. We had enough chances to score.
“You have to capitalize.”
NOTES: With defenseman Alexander Edler out four to six weeks due to a sprained knee, Derek Pouliot suited up for his first game with Vancouver. … The Canucks played most of the game with 11 forwards after Loui Eriksson left in the first period with a knee injury. … Canucks forward Jake Virtanen was a healthy scratch. Alexander Burmistrov took his place in the lineup. … After playing four home games in a row to open the season, Vancouver now hits the road for five straight.
UP NEXT
Flames: Off until Thursday, when Calgary hosts Carolina.
Canucks: At the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday.
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