Stone has goal, assist, Flames defeat Ducks to pad lead in Pacific

ANAHEIM -- Michael Stone had a goal and an assist in his 500th NHL game, and the Calgary Flames defeated the Anaheim Ducks 4-2 at Honda Center on Wednesday.

"Took me a while to get there, so it's a good feeling," Stone said. "It's not 1,000, but it's a big accomplishment for me."

Elias Lindholm, Tyler Toffoli and Matthew Tkachuk scored, and Jacob Markstrom made 26 saves for the Flames (42-19-9), who have won the first two games of their four-game road trip to extend their Pacific Division lead to six points over the Edmonton Oilers.
Trevor Zegras and Adam Henrique scored, and Anthony Stolarz made 24 saves for the Ducks (28-32-12), who have lost 13 of 14 (1-10-3).
"We hate losing here," Anaheim coach Dallas Eakins said. "It doesn't feel good and it eats at you."
Calgary took a 1-0 lead at 12:33 of the first period.
Stone passed the puck along the wall to Johnny Gaudreau behind the net. He paused with the puck before making a backhand feed to Lindholm in the slot, and he scored his 36th goal of the season on a one-timer. It was his fifth goal in the past seven games.

Gaudreau had two assists to give him 97 points (34 goals, 63 assists) this season, two shy of his NHL career high from 2018-19.
"He was very good tonight, too," Flames coach Darryl Sutter said. "He was the best player on the ice, that's for sure."
Calgary made it 2-0 at 10:11 of the second period. Mikael Backlund stole a pass from Troy Terry in the Anaheim zone and the puck went to Toffoli, who made a cross-ice pass to Andrew Mangiapane in the neutral zone. Toffoli got the puck back on the rush and scored from in close.
"The Ducks came out pretty fast and had a couple shots early, but then I thought we took over and scored one," Markstrom said. "We scored the second and then we are up 2-0."
Zegras cut it to 2-1 at 18:11. Vinni Lettieri won the puck behind the net and passed to Zegras at the bottom of the right circle. He stopped the puck, spun and shot it through the legs of Flames defenseman Nikita Zadorov and over Markstrom's left shoulder.

Markstrom, in his eighth consecutive start, made difficult saves on Derek Grant at 1:22 of the third and Dominik Simon at 3:33 to maintain the one-goal lead.
The Ducks then went on a power play at 5:35 and Markstrom made three more saves during the penalty kill.
"Really good at the end," Markstrom said. "That's what you want to see as a goalie. That we are playing in their end and not just chipping the puck out and changing."
Calgary extended its lead to 3-1 at 10:28. Stone, who has served primarily as a healthy scratch this season, scored on a slap shot from the point for his first goal in his seventh game this season.
"The first thing I always think is, hit it as hard as I can, because that's what I'm halfway decent at," Stone said. "I don't want to say I close my eyes and shoot it because I do try to find a lane, but on that one, there weren't many bodies in front, so I just hit it."
Anaheim ended an 0-for-21 drought on the power play when Henrique scored at 11:53 to make it 3-2.
"Overall, our game was better than it has been getting to the front of the net, getting to our forecheck, winning more puck battles," Henrique said. "Simply playing more as a group."
Tkachuk scored into an empty net with 35 seconds left for the 4-2 final.
"They're battling it out for a top spot," Henrique said of the Flames. "There's a lot of talk about them making a deep run and being one of the teams you have to go through to win the Stanley Cup.
NOTES:Gaudreau leads the NHL in even-strength points with 76 (28 goals, 48 assists). He has 47 primary assists this season, second to Kent Nilsson (61, 1980-81) for the most in Calgary/Atlanta Flames history, and his 63 assists this season tie his NHL career high from 2018-19. … Flames forward Trevor Lewis played his 800th NHL game. … Terry played 20:28 after missing the 6-1 loss to the Oilers on Sunday because of swelling near his left eye. ... Zegras has seven points (two goals, five assists) in the past eight games. … The Flames won the season series from the Ducks 3-0-1. … Calgary plays at the San Jose Sharks on Thursday.