SETTING UNDEFEATED 'MARK'

Make it a clean sweep!
The Flames finished off a perfect five-game road swing by beating the Penguins 4-0 Thursday night in Pittsburgh.

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With the victory, Calgary improved to 5-1-1 while the Pens fell to 3-2-2.
Coming into the tilt, the story had been the Flames explosive offence, which had outscored the opposition 17-7, including putting up five tallies in each of their last two games.
Jacob Markstrom and the team's penalty-kill were front-and-centre against the Pens, though, with the veteran 'tender absolutely stellar in making 45 saves for the shutout, and the PK going 4-for-4, including blanking Pittsburgh on a lengthy 5-on-3.
Johnny Gaudreau, Blake Coleman, Dillon Dube and Milan Lucic scored for the Flames against a Pens team that been playing excellent hockey despite being without stars Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang.
Calgary was up 1-0 after 40 minutes before scoring three in the third to walk away with the game.
The Flames had yet to trail in a game since the season-opener. They extended that streak Thursday night.
Gaudreau - who came into the game with eight assists - scored his first goal of the season when he poked the puck over the stick of Pens d-man John Marino in the Flames zone and set off a 2-on-1 with Elias Lindholm, keeping the puck and wiring one bar down over the far shoulder of Casey DeSmith.

The Flames came into the outing as the highest scoring first-period team in the NHL, having notched 11 opening-stanza markers, with the Washington Capitals second at 10.
At one point, they led 8-1 in shots.
Then things got a bit nutty.
First, Coleman was given a two-minute minor for high-sticking Drew O'Connor. Just 19 seconds into the Pens powerplay, Erik Gudbranson was given a double-minor for high-sticking when he clipped Jason Zucker in the face trying to clear the forward from out front of the Calgary net.
Pittsburgh managed seven shots on the advantages, Markstrom standing tall, including two massive saves - the first on Zucker who walked down the slot all alone and tried to snap it under his arm, then absolutely robbing Jake Guentzel on a cross-ice one-timer.
Rasmus Andersson and Chris Tanev both earned tips of the helmet for making big blocks during the extended Pens PP.
Late in the first period, DeSmith had his own larcenous stop, coming across his crease to steal a goal away from Brett Ritchie who tried a tight-in tip off a pass from Dube.
Markstrom put on a clinic in the second period, stopping all 15 shots he faced.
Along the way, he had an early save-of-the-year candidate after Zucker's shot went through his crease but he was able to lunge across his net and get his paddle on a 'rebound' attempt by O'Connor that looked destined for the back of the cage.

For an encore, he stoned Evan Rodrigues' high-quality attempt on a 2-on-1.
The Flames made it 2-0 just 1:04 into the third period off a faceoff. Mikael Backlund won the faceoff back to Oliver Kylington, who passed to Coleman as he faded backwards up near the blueline, his low slapshot through traffic going over the outstretched left pad of DeSmith.
Backlund's helper was his 400th career point.

Dube made it 3-0 at 10:15 off a Flames rush, taking a pass from Gaudreau and having all the time in the world to snap it home for his first of the season.

Lucic scored his second of the season 1:29 seconds later, firing it five-hole.

BY THE NUMBERS:

Shots: CGY 35, PIT 45
Powerplay:CGY 0-2, PIT 0-4
Hits:CGY 32, PIT 24
Face-offs: CGY 50%, PIT 50%
\Scoring chances: CGY 24, PIT 28
\High-danger scoring chances:CGY 7, PIT 10
\According of Natural Stat Trick*

WELL DONE, GENTS!

ONE-TIMERS:

Flames blueliner Noah Hanifin did not play in the tilt (upper body) ... Gaudreau is now four points away from passing Gary Roberts for ninth in franchise scoring ... Sean Monahan is three away from the 600-point plateau ... Tonight's game was the fifth game of a season-long eight-game homestand for the Pens.

THEY SAID IT:

JACOB MARKSTROM ON PERFECT ROAD TRIP:
"It was huge, obviously. First of all, we've got a long flight (home) and it always sucks to travel after a loss. To end the trip on a good note and make it a great road trip instead of a good one, I thought it was really important. A big win, and something to build on."
JOHNNY GAUDREAU ON SECURING THE GOOSE-EGG:
"That was important. (Markstrom) saved our bacon one too many times. Not only in this game, but throughout the entire road trip. What's that, two shutouts on the road trip? Obviously, one of the best goalies I've ever played with, so it's great to see him doing well back there. He faced a lot of shots tonight. But he stuck with it, faced on a 5-on-3, made some big saves, again - just played really well."
ON TEAM BONDING ON THE ROAD:
"It's huge. I think the guys were really excited to get on a road trip, come to the States, play … on the east coast. We had a couple team dinners, just trying to come together as a team. Road trips sometimes bring your team together. Since I've been in the organization, it's been a while since we've had a start like this. Just really proud of the guys. Now, we're at home for 10, 11, 12 days, try to use that to our advantage and try to string along a few more wins."

THE LINEUP:

Trios and duos to start the tilt:
Lines
Johnny Gaudreau - Elias Lindholm - Matthew Tkachuk
Blake Coleman - Mikael Backlund - Tyler Pitlick
Andrew Mangiapane - Dillon Dube - Brett Ritchie
Milan Lucic - Sean Monahan - Trevor Lewis
Pairings
Rasmus Andersson - Chris Tanev
Oliver Kylington - Michael Stone
Juuso Valimaki - Erik Gudbranson
Goaltender
Jacob Markstrom - starter
Dan Vladar

UP NEXT:

The Flames return to the friendly confines of the Scotiabank Saddledome for a Hockey Night in Canada tilt with the Philadelphia Flyers Saturday at 8 p.m. Fans are encouraged to dress up for Halloween, with prizes for best costumes.
Click here for tickets