Flames defeat Rittich, Maple Leafs on Gaudreau OT goal

TORONTO -- Johnny Gaudreau scored 36 seconds into overtime to give the Calgary Flames a 3-2 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena on Tuesday.

Gaudreau scored on a short breakaway when he deked former teammate David Rittich and shot around the goalie's right pad after receiving a pass from Elias Lindholm.
Rittich was traded by Calgary to Toronto on Sunday.
"We had a couple of shootouts in the past few practices before the [NHL Trade] Deadline (on Monday), and I scored a couple on him, so I kind of felt comfortable there," Gaudreau said. "I normally don't go to my forehand and I think I fooled him a little bit there."
Milan Lucic had an assist in his 1,000th NHL game, and Jacob Markstrom made 24 saves for the Flames (18-21-3), who have won two in a row after a four-game losing streak.
"Personally, it's a great achievement and it makes it that much better when you get a big win," Lucic said. "It just adds so much more to it, especially when we are desperate for wins and we get a big win like that against the best team in our division. We fought hard all night long to get it, so kudos to my teammates and coaches for stepping up and getting the win to add on to the milestone."

Zach Hyman had a goal and an assist to extend his point streak to six games, and John Tavares had two assists for the Maple Leafs (28-11-4), who were coming off a 4-2 loss at the Montreal Canadiens on Monday that ended a six-game winning streak.
Rittich made 25 saves in his Toronto debut.
"It was a tough one, right. I played against my old team where I was for four years," he said. "I've got some life friends there. It was a tough one, and the even worse thing is we lost in overtime. It's great to be in Toronto though, beautiful city, great guys. It's a bunch of beauties here, so it's great."
Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said, "I thought he looked really good in the net. I'm sure it's a difficult night for him. The emotions are part of it, but then the actual game play is another thing. The colors of the jerseys and the different people on the ice, you're used to being on the other side, that can be difficult. But I thought he looked good in the net, he looked confident, he made some good saves for us; I don't think he had a chance on any of the goals. It was a good debut for him."
Lindholm gave Calgary a 2-1 lead 34 seconds into the second period when he one-timed a pass from Matthew Tkachuk in the slot on the power play.
Alex Kerfoot tied it 2-2 at 6:17 of the third period when he scored from the slot after a pass from Tavares from behind the net.

Toronto had a four-minute power play starting at 10:11 of the third period when Rasmus Andersson was called for high-sticking Joe Thornton.
"That was a huge kill for us," Gaudreau said. "They've got some talented players on their side. So to be able to kill four minutes late in the third was really impressive."
Juuso Valimaki put the Flames up 1-0 at 4:37 of the first period with a tap-in from the left of the net off a cross-ice pass from Lucic.
Hyman tied it 1-1 at 10:37 when he took a carom off the end boards and shot past Markstrom's blocker from the goal line. He has three goals and six assists during his streak.
The Maple Leafs are in first place in the seven-team Scotia North Division, seven points ahead of the Winnipeg Jets. The Flames trail the fourth-place Canadiens by six points. The top four teams will qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Calgary is scheduled to play Montreal in five of its next seven games, beginning Wednesday on the road.
"We need to take it game by game," Gaudreau said. "We have an uphill battle to try to make the playoffs here. To get two wins against the Edmonton Oilers (5-0 on Saturday) and Toronto, two of the more skilled teams in the North Division, and now we get an opportunity to play against the Canadiens five times in the remainder of the season, we've put ourselves in a good spot to climb out of this."
Toronto forward Jason Spezza was a late scratch but is expected back in the lineup for the next game, Thursday against Winnipeg.
"'Spezz' is fine," Keefe said. "We made the lineup change here as a chance to give Spezz a rest. It's a combination of the schedule and the fact that he has been battling through a couple of things."
NOTES: Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews' five-game goal streak ended. He scored eight goals during that span. ... Toronto defenseman Morgan Rielly had an assist on Hyman's goal for his 300th NHL point (58 goals, 242 assists). … Lucic became the 11th player to play his 1,000th NHL game with the Flames. He has scored 538 points (213 goals, 325 assists).