Super 'ville-ains

NASHVILLE - In a city known for country music, the Flames found a bit of grunge.

And in doing so, they claimed two valuable points away from home.

Jonathan Huberdeau’s goal late in the second period proved decisive, as Calgary scored a gutsy road win in Nashville by a 4-3 scoreline.

Nazem Kadri, Kevin Rooney and Brayden Pachal also scored for the Flames, who earned a hard-fought split in their two-game Central Division road trip.

The first good chance of the game went to the Flames a minute in. From the left wing, Mikael Backlund found countryman Rasmus Andersson with a hard pass to the right point.

Andersson stepped into a slapshot, but Predators starter Juuse Saros was equal to the task.

All the scoring in period one occurred in a span of 3:07.

Nashville got things started at 7:45, when Steven Stamkos fed a hard pass to the low slot that was re-directed in by fellow free-agent signee Jonathan Marchessault.

The Flames answered back just under three minutes later. Kadri found space down the left wing and sent a snap shot Saros’ way.

The puck snuck through the Predator netminder’s pads, then chaos ensued. While crashing the net, Martin Pospisil took out Nashville d-man Adam Wilsby, sending him hurtling into the goal, but not before Wilsby nudged Saros’ pad just enough for it to knock the loose puck into the yawning cage.

Tommy Novak restored the Nashville lead 30 seconds after Kadri’s equalizer, and the hosts took a 2-1 lead into the break, despite Calgary holding a 9-8 edge in shots on goal.

Calgary’s fourth line kicked things into high gear in period two, factoring on a pair of goals, all part of a three-goal second period for the visitors.

Off a won faceoff in the defensive zone, Walker Duehr raced down the right wing, chipping the puck to himself and retrieving it just inside the Nashville line. From there, he strode confidently to the goalline, before zipping the puck across to Rooney, who redirected the disc past Saros for his third goal of the campaign.

Marchessault restored the Nashville lead with his second goal of the night at 7:41, but from there, the Flames took the stanza offer, forcing puck after puck at Saros - 16 in all in the period.

That diligent work paid off with just over six minutes left on the clock. Jakob Pelletier snagged the puck in the left circle and fired a hard pass to the right point to Pachal, who walked in and ripped a puck that exited the net as quickly as it entered it, over the left shoulder of the Predators ‘keeper.

Former Calgary first-rounder Mark Jankowski took an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty from the bench late in the frame, and his former team made him pay on the man-advantage.

The puck fell to Huberdeau in the high slot. Seeing no shooting opportunity, he dished off to Weegar and skated goalward. Weegar then fed the puck to Connor Zary in the slot, his low shot spilled out to Huberdeau at the side of the goal, and he deposited his 10th of the season past Saros to give the Flames their first lead of the night at 4-3.

Shots were 24-13 in Calgary's favour through 40 minutes.

The Flames had a glorious chance to extend the lead just over three minutes into the third. A Martin Pospisil entry pass hit Kadri in stride, in alone on Saros, who closed the five-hole just as the Flames forward tried to tuck it through.

Vladar saved his best work for the final frame - a pair of technical kick saves - one off Marc Del Gaizo, the second off Novak from the slot.

And his forwards helped. Coleman knelt down in front of a point blast, absorbing the puck with a wince. Then, on a Nashville powerplay, Rooney hurled himself recklessly at a slot shot, preventing a high-danger opportunity for the hosts to equalize.

At the other end, Saros made another important stop off Matt Coronato, who was set up beautifully by Kadri in the slot on a 3-on-1 rush with about five minutes left in regulation time.

Vladar and crew continued to fend off the hosts right to the final buzzer, Nashville coming close on a hit post, and again through Forsberg on a goal-mouth scramble with 26 seconds left to play.

The Flames keeper made 17 saves on the night.

With the win, Calgary improves to 14-10-5, ahead of a five-game homestand beginning Thursday night against the Lightning.

The Lineup:

Forwards

Jonathan Huberdeau - Nazem Kadri - Martin Pospisil
Yegor Sharangovich - Mikael Backlund - Matt Coronato
Blake Coleman - Connor Zary - Andrei Kuzmenko
Jakob Pelletier - Kevin Rooney - Walker Duehr

Defence

MacKenzie Weegar - Daniil Miromanov
Kevin Bahl - Rasmus Andersson
Jake Bean - Brayden Pachal

Goaltenders

Dan Vladar (Starter)
Dustin Wolf

They Said It:

The Numbers Game:

Shots: CGY 28, NSH 20

Powerplay: CGY 1-for-2, NSH 0-for-2

Faceoffs: CGY 43.4%, NSH 56.6%

Blocked Shots: CGY 21, NSH 13

Hits: CGY 21, NSH 28

*5-on-5 Scoring Chances: CGY 26, NSH 12

*5-on-5 High-Danger Scoring Chances: CGY 10, NSH 5

*Courtesy of NaturalStatTrick

Up Next:

The Flames will play each of their five remaining games before Christmas at the Scotiabank Saddledome, beginning with a visit from the Tampa Bay Lightning Thursday at 7 p.m. MT. GET TICKETS