Flames defeat Kings for 50th win of season

LOS ANGELES -- The Calgary Flames won their 50th game, 7-2 against the Los Angeles Kings at Staples Center on Monday.

The 1988-89 Flames, who went 54-17 with nine ties, are the only other team in Calgary/Atlanta Flames history to win 50 games in a season. The Flames have 107 points, second-most to the 1988-89 team had 117 points and won the Stanley Cup.
"Not a lot of teams get to 50 wins so it's pretty cool, pretty special for our group but also for our fans and the city of Calgary," Flames forward Mark Jankowski said. "They've been with us through the ups and downs and it's just real special to play for our fans who are] looking forward to seeing our run in the playoffs."
***[WATCH: [All Flames vs. Kings highlights]*
Derek Ryan scored twice, Jankowski had a goal and two assists and James Neal had a goal and an assist for the Flames (50-23-7), who won their third straight game. David Rittich made 23 saves.
Anze Kopitar had an assist in his 1,000th NHL game for the Kings (29-41-9), who had their three-game home winning streak end. Jonathan Quick was pulled in the third period after allowing seven goals on 25 shots. Jack Campbell made five saves in relief.

Johnny Gaudreau put Calgary up 3-2 at 6:46 of the second period on a sharp-angle shot into the far corner.
The Flames scored four goals in the third period to send Quick to the bench. Neal got his seventh goal 13 seconds in to make it 4-2, and Ryan scored for a 5-2 lead at 2:33.
Andrew Mangiapane made it 6-2 at 8:30, and Quick was pulled after Jankowski scored at 8:45 to make it 7-2.
"I don't know if anything really went right tonight," Kings defenseman Drew Doughty said. "We lost the game … We just didn't have a good third period and we just give pucks away, that's the bottom line. The other teams come on us on rushes all night and we continue to play like that, and that's why we lose all these games."
Ryan gave the Flames a 1-0 lead 2:07 into the first period.
Kyle Clifford tied it 1-1 at 13:29 when the Kings caught the Flames while making a change. Clifford scored on a wrist shot off a drop pass from Ilya Kovalchuk, who had been scratched for the previous six games.
Sam Bennett put the Flames back in front 2-1 at 14:09.
Dustin Brown tied it 2-2 at 19:20, getting a wrist shot into an open net when Doughty's shot deflected off traffic in front of Rittich. Kopitar had the secondary assist for his 886th NHL point (311 goals, 575 assists).
The Flames made significant changes to their lineup one night after clinching the Pacific Division and Western Conference with a 5-3 win against the San Jose Sharks on Sunday, scratching forwards Mikael Backlund and Matthew Tkachuk and defensemen Mark Giordano, TJ Brodie, Travis Hamonic and Noah Hanifin. Jankowski said it was important that Calgary still played with the necessary focus despite putting youngsters and reserves into the lineup.
"You don't just turn it on in playoff time," said Jankowski, who had his first three-point game of the season. "This is the time of year where you really ramp it up for playoffs, so for us we want to be playing our best hockey going into the playoffs."

They said it

"I think that we're trying to take a step back and realize that we've really accomplished something special here, but you're just so consumed in the middle of the season. All these games going on, it's hard to really do that. I think maybe at the end of the year we can do that, but right now the goal is ahead of us and we're looking forward to that." -- Flames forward Derek Ryan on winning 50 games
"I think their first goal on their first shift of the third was more the turning point. I thought that we had the momentum coming in after the second period after [Kurtis MacDermid's] big hit, but yeah, we just fell apart in the third period and it just snowballed on us." -- Kings defenseman Drew Doughty

Need to know

Bennett and MacDermid did not return after colliding late in the second period. Flames coach Bill Peters said Bennett, who returned after missing five games with an upper-body injury, was fine and would play again in the regular season. MacDermid will not travel with the Kings for their game at the Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday, coach Willie Desjardins said. … Gaudreau extended his point streak to four games (one goal, four assists). … Kopitar is the fourth player with 1,000 games in Kings history (Dustin Brown, 1,114; Dave Taylor, 1,111; Luc Robitaille, 1,077).

What's next

Flames:At the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday (10:30 p.m. ET; FS-W, SNW, NHL.TV)
Kings: At the Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday (10 p.m. ET; FS-A PLUS, PRIME, NHL.TV)