Lindholm has 3 points in Flames win against Canucks

CALGARY -- Elias Lindholm had a goal and two assists for the Calgary Flames in a 5-2 win against the Vancouver Canucks at Scotiabank Saddledome on Thursday.

Jonathan Huberdeau had a goal and an assist, and Blake Coleman had two assists for the Flames (6-8-2), who have won consecutive games and are 4-1-1 in their past six. Jacob Markstrom made 20 saves.

"I think a lot has changed," Lindholm said. "I think we're following the system more, more dialed in, winning more battles, and we're working harder, all it comes down to. There's a lot of good teams in this league and you're not going to win on skill. We're one of those teams that have to work harder than the other team to win games, and I think we've started realizing that."

Elias Pettersson and Nils Hoglander scored, and Casey DeSmith made 34 saves for the Canucks (12-4-1), who had won seven of eight, including a 4-3 overtime victory against the New York Islanders at home on Wednesday.

"It was a tough game," Vancouver forward Dakota Joshua said. "We've got to find a way to still be productive in those tough back-to-backs. We didn't really do a good job of that through the first 40 (minutes), but it was still right there at the end. Came up on the wrong side of this one, but back at it Saturday (against the Seattle Kraken)."

Pettersson gave the Canucks a 1-0 lead on the power play at 9:38 of the first period with a one-timer from inside the left face-off circle off a pass by J.T. Miller.

MacKenzie Weegar tied it 1-1 at 17:55 when he shot top corner past DeSmith's blocker off the rush.

Dillon Dube put Calgary ahead 2-1 at 10:49 of the second period when he tapped a loose puck behind DeSmith, and Noah Hanifin drove wide to the net and lifted a shot past DeSmith with the teams skating 4-on-4 to extend the lead to 3-1 at 19:24.

"I think we were tired. It caught up to us," Vancouver coach Rick Tocchet said. "The second half of the game, listen, they didn't quit. I got no problem. But you've got to learn how to play tired. You've got to manage the puck a little more. Sometimes you have to play tired, better angles, protect the middle, live for other shifts. You can't hit a home run every shift. I think that's our downfall tonight."

Huberdeau pushed it to 4-1 with Calgary's fourth straight goal at 5:53 of the third period when he chipped a shot short side over DeSmith's shoulder from just outside of the crease. The goal was Huberdeau's first in 12 games.

"Obviously it felt good," said Huberdeau, who has nine points (three goals, six assists) in 16 games in his first season of an eight-year, $84 million contract ($10.5 million average annual value). "It's been a while. That was good to finally get a goal and a big win for us."

Hoglander cut it to 4-2 at 10:06 when he tipped a point shot off the stick of Tyler Myers by Markstrom's blocker.

Lindholm scored his first in 11 games into an empty net off a pass by Huberdeau at 18:08 for the 5-2 final.

"I think kind of a little slow start, but I thought they looked a little faster than us in the beginning," Lindholm said. "After that I thought we controlled the game and didn't give up too much. 'Marky' played well in net. So, it was a good game."

NOTES: Lindholm was a game-high plus-4; Pettersson was minus-4, . ... Miller (10 goals, 17 assists), Pettersson (eight goals, 19 assists) and defenseman Quinn Hughes (six goals, 21 assists) are each tied for the NHL lead in points (27). ... Hughes, who played his 300th NHL game, has 11 points (two goals, nine assists) during a six-game point streak. ... Vancouver forward Linus Karlsson, 24, had three shots in 11:54 in his NHL debut. ... Canucks forward Andrei Kuzmenko, who was injured in the third period Wednesday, is day to day and a possibility to play Saturday against the Kraken, according to Tocchet. ... Vancouver defenseman Filip Hronek had an 11-game point streak end (one goal, 13 assists).