Gaudreau extends point streak, lifts Flames past Jets in shootout

WINNIPEG -- Johnny Gaudreau scored to extend his season-opening point streak to eight games, and the Calgary Flames defeated the Winnipeg Jets 4-3 in a shootout at Bell MTS Place on Monday.

Gaudreau scored the clincher in the shootout. His 10 points (six goals, four assists) in Calgary's first eight games is the longest such streak by a Flames player since 2013-14, when Jiri Hudler had 12 points (four goals, eight assists) in Calgary's first nine games.
"I feel really comfortable," Gaudreau said. "Me and [Sean Monahan] have been playing really well in our own zone, being smart. I don't think we've been out on the ice for a 5-on-5 goal so we feel really comfortable with that, and we're getting our chances offensively. It's been good."
Andrew Mangiapane and Chris Tanev also scored for the Flames (4-3-1), and Jacob Markstrom made 26 saves. Elias Lindholm had two assists.

Gaudreau said, "(Markstrom) has been our best player by far this season, hands down. A great signing for us, a huge pickup for us. He's crazy back there. He's made some huge saves for us and keeps us in games when maybe we're not playing our best. He's been great."
Kyle Connor scored two power-play goals, Blake Wheeler had three assists, and Connor Hellebuyck made 25 saves for the Jets (5-4-0), who lost consecutive games for the first time this season.
"I thought there were pushes by both teams throughout the game," Connor said. "They obviously had their best push when they took the lead 3-2 and we responded with a couple of good shifts and tied it back up. I think it was a pretty balanced game. Lots of good, lots of bad."
Mark Scheifele scored the game-tying goal for the Jets with 1:50 left in the third period.

"There was some solid pushback in that. It was clearly a big goal, six-on-five," Jets coach Paul Maurice said. "The bench didn't get quiet, they were still pulling for each other. We suffered 10 minutes in there that were tough. They were on us real good."
The teams play again Tuesday (8 p.m. ET; TSN3, SNW, NHL.TV). It was the first of three straight matchups between the Flames and Jets over a span of four days in Winnipeg. The Flames host the Oilers on Saturday before the Jets travel to Calgary for their fourth straight game against the Flames on February 9.
"Especially coming in off the road in Montreal (2-0 win on Saturday) for us to be able to get the first one is huge," Flames coach Geoff Ward said. "It's probably going to make our mood a little better tomorrow morning ahead of the second one. If you come in and lose a tough one I think that may mentally play with your team a little bit. So that's a good thing for us, but we understand it's just one game out of three. We've got to be ready for tomorrow."
Scheifele tied the game 3-3 at 18:10 of the third period.
Gaudreau tied the game 2-2 at 6:54 of the third period before Mangiapane made it 3-2 Flames at 13:45.
"I liked our compete and ability to battle back there," Mangiapane said. "It was good play all around by our line. I had another chance there before I wish I could have capitalized on earlier. It was a good play, the puck sitting there and I was happy to tap it home."
Connor scored at 4:31 and 13:46 of the first period to give the Jets a 2-0 lead.
Tanev, who signed with Calgary as a free agent Oct. 9, scored his first goal with the Flames seven seconds into the second period on a bouncing wrist shot from Calgary's blue line to cut Winnipeg's lead to 2-1.

"It definitely was not [how I imagined it], but I'll take any goal I can get," Tanev said. "We're just happy we got the win. Obviously we play these guys four of the next five so it's huge to get that first two points against them."
NOTES: Scheifele had an assist on Connor's first goal. It was his 272nd in the NHL, passing Vyacheslav Kozlov (271) for fifth place in Jets/Atlanta Thrashers history. … Lindholm has five assists on a three-game point streak. … Connor leads the Jets with six goals, surpassing Nikolaj Ehlers, who had a five-game goal streak end in a 4-1 loss against the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday.