Flames shut out Oilers, end losing streak at four

CALGARY -- The Calgary Flames ended a four-game losing streak with a 5-0 win against the Edmonton Oilers at Scotiabank Saddledome on Saturday.

Jacob Markstrom made 17 saves for his third shutout of the season and the eighth of his NHL career.
Johnny Gaudreau and Mark Giordano each had a goal and an assist, Sam Bennett had two assists, and Sean Monahan and Elias Lindholm scored for Calgary (17-21-3), which won for the second time in 10 games.
"We're not in a spot we want to be, but tonight's a start and it gives us a chance to build," Monahan said. "We needed to win a game. Now we have a chance to build on that. We have to get ready here for our next one."
Mike Smith made 27 saves for Edmonton (25-15-2), which had won two in a row and three of four.
The Oilers participated in the Colby Cave Celebration of Life earlier Saturday. Cave, who played 67 NHL games from 2018-2020, including 44 with Edmonton, died April 11, 2020, four days after he had surgery to remove a colloid cyst that was causing pressure on his brain. He was 25.
"I think we've definitely been on a ... I don't even think you can call it a run at this point," Oilers captain Connor McDavid said. "I think we've had a good stretch of games over an extended period of time. I think obviously you never like to lose the way you do tonight, especially against a team like Calgary, a team that we don't really like very much. It's obviously bitter, but it's some days it's a little bit more than hockey with everything that's going on."
The Flames scored four times in the second period to take a 4-0 lead.
Monahan one-timed a pass from Andrew Mangiapane to put Calgary up 1-0 at 3:12. It was Monahan's first goal in 13 games.
"You always want to start with a lead and play with a lead," Monahan said. "That's not always the case. I put a lot of pressure on myself to be a go-to guy and somebody who's going to obviously provide offense. When you're not doing that, it's frustrating. You have to stick with it and keep working at it."

Gaudreau made it 2-0 at 10:43 with a wrist shot from the bottom of the right face-off circle after taking a cross-ice pass from Noah Hanifin. It was Gaudreau's first goal in eight games.
Monahan and Gaudreau, who are longtime linemates, were put on separate lines by coach Darryl Sutter this week.
"Obviously a little different," Gaudreau said. "Me and 'Mony' played together for pretty much every game since I've been here. A little different, but the team won a game tonight. We got to take it game by game, and whatever the lines are, we've got to focus on winning the next game here and moving on."
Lindholm scored on the power play off a pass from Gaudreau to make it 3-0 at 13:21, and Giordano made it 4-0 at 19:25 when he scored five-hole against Smith.

Brett Ritchie scored on a spinning backhand on the rush to extend the lead to 5-0 at 13:30 of the third period.
"You can never use excuses, but there are times that you can tell your team just doesn't have it and there's not enough energy in the group, and tonight was one of those times," Oilers coach Dave Tippett said.
NOTES: The Flames originally were scheduled to host the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday and Saturday, but the games were postponed because of a COVID-19 outbreak within the Canucks. ... McDavid needed one point to become the first NHL player to score 70 points in 42 games since 2000-01, when Mario Lemieux scored 71 points (34 goals, 37 assists) in 41 games for the Pittsburgh Penguins. McDavid leads the NHL with 69 points (23 goals, 46 assists), eight more than teammate Leon Draisaitl, who is second. ... Bennett has five assists during a

our-game point streak.