Hanifin helps Flames defeat Oilers for third straight victory

CALGARY -- Noah Hanifin broke a tie at 6:32 of the third period, and the Calgary Flames won their third straight under coach Darryl Sutter, 4-3 against the Edmonton Oilers at Scotiabank Saddledome on Monday.

"It's been up and down for us this year, and we've dealt with some adversity," Hanifin said. "With Darryl coming in and stuff, we've rebounded pretty well and put together a few big games. It's nice to see we're playing the right way too. We're working hard. We're playing a full 60 [minutes]. We're competing. Those are the signs you want to see. I think we're heading in the right direction."
Sutter replaced Geoff Ward on March 4. He was 107-73-15 with 15 ties in three seasons as Calgary coach from 2002-06, including advancing to the Stanley Cup Final in 2004, and was their general manager from 2003-10.
Elias Lindholm, Dillon Dube, and Andrew Mangiapane each had a goal and an assist for the Flames (14-12-3). Jacob Markstrom made 28 saves.
"It's fun. Winning is good," Dube said. "It makes it a lot easier coming to the rink for practice, and the energy stays a little higher."
Leon Draisaitl scored for a fifth straight game for the Oilers (18-13-0), who have lost two in a row after a four-game winning streak. Mike Smith made 23 saves.
The teams will complete a two-game set here Wednesday.
"It's a rivalry game," Edmonton defenseman Adam Larsson said. "It means a lot to both teams, the pride that's going into that. But I think we just need to find ways to win games no matter who we play.
"I still think we're doing a lot of good things. We're getting enough chances to win games. Today we came up short, [but] we're still a confident group. We just have to play a lot harder, but I still think we played well enough to win."

Hanifin took a drop pass from Mangiapane and scored from the edge of the left face-off circle to give Calgary a 4-3 lead.
The goal came 1:07 after Draisaitl extended his goal streak and tied it 3-3 with a shot from the right circle at 5:25 after a drop pass from Connor McDavid.
"It was a huge response," Hanifin said. "Whenever you're playing a team like that, the game is going to be real intense and go back and forth a bit. It was a huge rebound for us."
Dube scored on a breakaway after Lindholm caused a turnover in the neutral zone to put Calgary up 1-0 at 5:25 of the second period.
Lindholm made it 2-0 at 8:57, but Larsson cut it to 2-1 at 9:49 when he scored on a rebound.
Mangiapane gave the Flames a 3-1 lead at 13:45 on a setup by Milan Lucic after Smith mishandled the puck.

Josh Archibald redirected a centering pass from Devin Shore to make it 3-2 at 17:07.
"I think if we limit our mistakes, it limits their chances and their goals," Archibald said. "Unfortunately for us, we made more mistakes than them tonight, and they capitalized on them."
NOTES: Oilers defenseman Tyson Barrie did not play after the first period because of an upper-body injury, and forward Jujhar Khaira sustained an upper-body injury in a fight with Flames forward Nick Ritchie at 9:35 of the first. Edmonton coach Dave Tippett said each is day to day. … Calgary matched its longest winning streak of the season; it also won three in a row from Feb. 6-11. … Draisaitl has seven goals and five assists during a seven-game point streak; McDavid has 13 points (three goals, 10 assists) during a six-game point streak. ... Markstrom is 3-0-0 with a 1.67 goals-against average and .932 save percentage since Sutter took over as coach.