Hamilton, Flames burn Jets for sixth straight win

CALGARY, AB -- Dougie Hamilton scored two goals and added an assist and Matthew Tkachuk had three assists as the Calgary Flames defeated the Winnipeg Jets 6-2 on Saturday at the Scotiabank Saddledome.
The Flames stretched their winning streak to a season-high six games and moved into first place in the Pacific Division with the win.
"We have moved the bar for ourselves in the last month," Flames coach Glen gulutzan said. "Everybody knows about our start, we dug ourselves a hole and we are starting to get ourselves out of it.
"We've got a lot of work to do but we have a great group."
Mikael Backlund tallied his fifth goal of the season and added a pair of assists, Sam Bennett notched his seventh, Lance Bouma scored his first goal of the season and Sean Monahan, who registered a point for the sixth straight game, scored for Calgary.

Tkachuk's three assists was a career-high for points in a game for the 18-year-old.
"Not much went into it, really," Tkachuk said of his performance. "It was some great shots by Dougie and a great shot by Backs that caught the goalie off guard."
Chad Johnson started for the 12th time in 14 games and turned aside 26 shots for his 13th win of the season. The Flames goaltender is 9-1-0 in his past 10 starts.
"Obviously, it starts with [Chad Johnson] in the back there in the pipes," Monahan said. "He's giving us that confidence to go out there and work for him.
"When we're getting the chances we're putting the puck in the back of the net. I think that comes down to us sticking to our structure and keeping it simple. That's why we're getting our chances."
Johnny Gaudreau collected two assists to extend his point streak to five games (3G,6A). Gaudreau's helper on Monahan's goal was his 100th career assist.
Nikolaj Ehlers and Jacob Trouba scored for the Jets, who dropped their third straight game.

Trouba's goal entered the Flames goal with just 0.1 seconds left on the clock.
Michael Hutchinson started in goal for the Jets and surrendered four goals on 29 shots. Connor Hellebuyck came in relief for Hutchinson for the third period and stopped 4 shots.
The Flames opened the scoring 8:29 into the second period. Tkachuk entered the Jets zone and dropped the puck to Hamilton, who wired a hard wrister past Hutchinson's glove.
"That drop pass ... I knew he was behind me, but I had no idea where," Tkachuk chuckled. "Thank God he was yelling because I found out where he was after that.
"It was kind of a start of a little role we got on. We knew once we got the first one we could start rolling, It was a great shot by Dougie."
Calgary doubled their lead at the 13:00 mark of the second when Gaudreau spotted a trailing Bennett in the high slot. Bennett skated in and beat Hutchinson on the glove side.
Hamilton netted his second of the game when he one-timed a point blast that beat Hutchinson through the five-hole.
Backlund completed Calgary's second period assault with 2:08 left on the power play when he finished off a slick one-touch pass from Tkachuk and beat Hutchinson from the side of the net.

Bouma's first of the season came when he raced towards the goal and out-battled two Winnipeg defenders to chip a backhand shot past Hellebuyck early in the third period.
Monahan's goal struck on the power play when Gaudreau dished a pass in the slot and Monahan made no mistake. It was the sixth straight game Calgary has registered a goal with the man-advantage.
"You've got to be ready for those," Monahan said. "That was a great pass. He set up a few guys tonight, and it was a big night from Dougie. Benny had a nice goal and Backs, too.
"We were rolling tonight, and we've got to continue to do that."
The Flames are 11-3-1 in their last 15 games.
"Right now we are finding ways to win," Tkachuk said. "Before, at the beginning of the year, everyone knows we were finding ways to not win and we didn't really have that belief we could win ... now we are a really confident group."
NOTES: Kris Versteeg missed his second straight game due to injury … Micheal Ferland was moved up to play with Troy Brouwer and Sean Monahan. Freddie Hamilton and Tyler Wotherspoon were scratched for the Flames.
UP NEXT: The Flames will have a three-day break for the first time since early November and will be in action on Wednesday when they host the Tampa Bay Lightning at the Scotiabank Saddledome (7:30 PM MT - SN, SN360, FAN960).