Calgary Flames beat Seattle Kraken
Tyler Toffoli and the Calgary Flames bounced back from one of their worst losses of the season to pick up two crucial points in the Pacific Division before starting the All-Star break.
Toffoli, Elias Lindholm and Blake Coleman each had a goal and two assists, and the Flames topped the Seattle Kraken 5-2 on Friday night.
Calgary made an impressive comeback after stunning Chicago at home the day before in a 5-1 blowout. The Flames topped the Kraken for the second time in Seattle, taking two out of three in the season series and heading into their break on a high note.
“We talked about it in the last two games,” Toffoli said.
Lindholm deflected a pass from Toffoli for his 15th goal at 7:16 of the first period to pull Calgary away after Seattle took an early lead.
Toffoli’s 18th goal at 13:28 gave Calgary a 2–1 lead, and Nikita Zadorov scored with 4.5 seconds remaining in the first period to give the Flames a 3–1 advantage.
Noah Hanifin scored his fourth of the season with 8:20 remaining after Seattle pulled within 3–2, and Coleman added an empty-net goal with 1:20 remaining.
Dan Vlader made 29 saves and won his fifth straight start. Calgary is 10–0–3 in Vlader’s last 13 contests, tying a club record for longest point streak by a goalie, joining Mike Vernon (1988–89) and Brian Elliott (2016–17). went.
Recent AHL callup John Hayden redirected Will Borgen’s shot from the starting point of the first period to give Seattle a 1–0 lead. But Kraken seemed to be a step slow all night and failed to capitalize on several opportunities with an extra attacker. Seattle was a season-worst 0 for 6 on the power play.
“I feel comfortable in those situations because I know I’m going to get some action. I didn’t get much in the first 40 minutes, so I was looking forward to it,” Vladar said of Seattle’s power play. .
Seattle appeared to pull within 3–2 on Alex Weinberg’s power-play goal with 11:01 left, but Calgary challenged for goalie interference and the goal was overturned. Kraken finally got the goal when Eli Tolvainen scored on a rebound with 9:24 remaining, but Hanifin answered 64 seconds later.
Martin Jones made 33 saves, but the Kraken lost for the second time in three games and missed a chance to move into sole possession of first place in the Pacific Division.
Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said, “We weren’t good enough.”
“Our group wasn’t good, especially in the middle of the game we had no energy,” Hakstol said. And this is from top to bottom. This is all of us.
Seattle is also seeing injuries starting to affect its lineup. Hayden was in the lineup because rookie All-Star center Matty Benniers was ejected after taking a big hit from Vancouver’s Tyler Myers in Wednesday’s win over the Canucks. Beniers’ injury was not specified but he was already ruled out for Saturday’s game against Columbus and his status is uncertain for next weekend’s All-Star Game.
injury update
Calgary placed D Chris Tanev on injured reserve on Friday and activated F Brett Ritchie from IR. Tanev was injured last Monday against Columbus and lost to Chicago on Thursday. In Tanev’s absence, Mackenzie Viegar paired with Nikita Zadorov against the Blackhawks and again against Seattle. Richie was scratched. … Seattle placed D Justin Schultz on IR and recalled F Max McCormick from the AHL’s Coachella Valley. Schultz missed three games before being placed on IR.
next
Flames: Calgary is off until February 6 when it plays the New York Rangers.
Kraken: Hosts Columbus on Saturday.
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