5 THINGS - FLAMES @ DUCKS
The Flames look to make it two straight wins in Southern California when they visit the Honda Center
Video: Brendan Parker sets up tonight's game from Anaheim
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GAME DAY VIDEO
Game Day with Brendan Parker
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GAME DAY FEATURES
'Pretty Cool to Think About' - Lewis to Play in 800th Career Game Tonight
Projected Lineup
Say What - 'We're a Focused Group'
STAT PACK
Media Game Notes
Scoring Leaders
Head-to-Head Stats
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Leading Scorers:
Flames:
Points - Johnny Gaudreau (95)
Goals - Elias Lindholm (35)
Ducks:
Points - Troy Terry (57)
Goals - Terry (31)
Special Teams:
Flames:
PP- 23.6% (9th) / PK - 83.4% (5th)
Ducks:
PP- 21.9% (12th) / PK - 80.4% (13th)
Advanced Stats:
Flames:
Shot Attempts: 55.80% (2nd)
High-Danger Chances: 56.31% (1st)
Ducks:
Shot Attempts: 48.53% (20th)
High-Danger Chances: 49.49% (17th)
Talk about starting off your road trip on the right foot.
Well, it kind of looked like it was the left one, actually.
Johnny Gaudreau banked a tight-angle shot from below the goaline in off the skate of Kings goalie Cal Petersen just 10 seconds into Monday's tilt, later setting up linemate Elias Lindholm and then scoring himself as the Flames held off a late charge from the Kings with a big 3-2 victory.
The win snapped a three-game losing streak for Calgary, who remains atop the Pacific Division with a fve-point cushion on the Kings and three games in hand.
The win also improved their record to 20-11-2 this season away from the friendly confines of the Scotiabank Saddledome.
"I think everyone wants to be that guy on our team," said Gaudreau of his huge night. "Obviously, tonight it was me and Lindy had a big goal, too. We've had a lot of contributions from a lot of guys throughout the year this year, so you can't really stick it on one guy. I thought our team played really well tonight."
With three more divisional games on tap in Anaheim tonight and San Jose Thursday before rounding out the trip in Seattle Saturday, the Flames are keenly aware of the importance of this road trip on their quest to lock up the division.
"It's huge," said Gaudreau. "Obviously, we have a big road trip here and didn't play too, too well there toward the end of our homestand - the past few weeks. To get on the road here - it feels like it's been a while since we've been on a road trip - it's kind of nice. You get to have dinner with some of the guys and we have a road-trip mentality. We started off with a big win and have another big one coming up against Anaheim."
"It starts the trip," echoed Head Coach Darryl Sutter. "We've talked about it enough the last couple of days about it getting a little stale at home and starting a trip. Doesn't matter who the opponent is, getting off on the right foot - and you're playing four in six, too, so you want to get off on the right foot."
Calle Jarnkrok did not play in the tilt, sitting out with a non-COVID related illness. Adam Ruzicka - who was called up from Stockton along with defenceman Juuso Valimaki earlier Monday - drew into the lineup centring Dillon Dube and Blake Coleman.
Video: Gaudreau's 3 point night leads Flames to victory
The Ducks are licking their wounds after taking a 6-1 shellacking at the hands of the Oilers on Sunday night in front of their home crowd at the Honda Center.
Edmonton built a 3-0 lead after 20 minutes and was up 4-0 after 40, with Zach Aston-Reese scoring his third of the season to snap Mike Smith's shutout bid, the Oilers goalie finishing the night with 31 saves.
The Ducks leading scorer, Troy Terry, didn't play. He sustained cuts to his face in a fight with Arizona's Jay Beagle on April 1. No word yet if he will dress against the Flames.
The two clubs have met three times this season, with Anaheim winning 3-2 in OT in Oct. 18 at the Scotiabank Saddledome, then the Flames prevailing in the last two: 4-3 in a shootout in Anaheim on Dec. 3 and then 6-2 at home on Feb 16.
In the most recent outing, Dillon Dube and Elias Lindholm scored in the first period, with Lindholm adding another in the second along with Matthew Tkachuk. Johnny Gaudreau and Andrew Mangiapane rounded out the scoring, wth Jacob Markstrom stopping 26 of the 28 shots he faced.
Gaudreau and Tkachuk finished with three points, as did Rasmus Andersson who tallied three helpers.
John Gibson started in net for the Ducks and allowed four goals on 20 shots, before being replaced in the second period by Anthony Stolarz who stopped 21 of 22 shots.
Video: Condensed Game: Ducks @ Flames
REALLY GOOD-REAU:Johnny Gaudreau notched another three points (2G, 1A) Monday night for his 24th multi-point effort of the season and fifth multi-goal game of 2021-22. With Gaudreau's three points, he is now a point-per-game player in his career with 589 in 589 games. Johnny leads the NHL in even-strength points with 74 of his 95 coming at 5-on-5. Since 2000-01, only seven players have notched more even-strength points in a season: Connor McDavid (84 in 2017-28, 81 in 2018-19), Henrik Sedin (83 in 2009-10), Patrick Kane (81 in 2019-18), Nikita Kucherov (80 in 2018-19), Jaromir Jagr (78 in 2000-01), Alex Ovechkin (75 in 2007-08), and Evgeni Malkin (75 in 2011-12).
MILE-STONE MOMENTS:Michael Stone has skated in two straight games for the Flames and is now on the brink of skating in his 500th NHL game. He is three away from 100 assists in his career. Trevor Lewis is also set for a major milestone after skating in game 799 Monday. The two-time Stanley Cup Champion with Los Angeles skated in 674 of those games with the Kings before joining the Winnipeg Jets in 2020-21 for 56 games and now 69 with the Flames this season as he closes in on No. 800.
Flames - Johnny Gaudreau
With his three points against the Kings, No. 13 has 95 points on the year, just four shy of his personal best of 99 he set in 2018-19 - and he still has 13 games to play. He also leads the Flames with 43 road points (16G, 27A).
"Johnny was on fire tonight," said Head Coach Darryl Sutter of his performance. "He was awesome. He's been really good lately and hopefully that will get the line going again."
Ducks - Trevor Zegras
The second-year pro - who played in 24 tilts last season - is second in team scoring with 17 goals and 50 points, including six goals and 14 points on the powerplay. The youngster has developed a flair for the dramatic, scoring two of Michigan (lacrosse-style) goals this season. Worth noting that Matthew Tkachuk tried one Monday against Kings goalie Cal Petersen but wasn't able to put it home.
Johnny Gaudreau recorded his 38th career game-opening goal and now trails only Jarome Iginla (93), Theo Fleury (47) and Kent Nilsson (45) for the most in Flames history.
