VGK_CGY_Recap

CALGARY --Matthew Tkachuk had two goals and two assists, and Johnny Gaudreau had a goal and three assists to help the Calgary Flames to a 7-2 win against the Vegas Golden Knights at Scotiabank Saddledome on Monday.

Sean Monahan had two goals and one assist, and Sam Bennett and TJ Brodie scored for the Flames (12-8-1), who have won two in a row after losing three of four. David Rittich made 20 saves.
"We want to be a tough team to beat at home and we want this place to be a place where teams don't like coming into," Tkachuk said. "We want it to be a big advantage for us and I think right now we're playing well."
WATCH: [All Golden Knights vs. Flames highlights]
Gaudreau tied a Flames record for points in a single period with four. The last Calgary player to do that was Olli Jokinen on Feb. 14, 2011, at the Colorado Avalanche.
"It was great to get off to a good start like that tonight and get off to an early lead," Gaudreau said. "We kept finding the net, so it was crazy. Killer offense and it was a big win."

VGK@CGY: Flames jump out to five-goal lead in the 1st

Nick Holden and Max Pacioretty scored, and Malcolm Subban made 25 saves for the Golden Knights (9-12-1), who have lost two of the past three and four of the past six.
"There's too many games this year where that's happened," Vegas forward Reilly Smith said. "We're probably going to have to dissect this one."
The Flames scored five first-period goals at home for the first time since March 11, 1993, against the Detroit Red Wings.
Tkachuk scored on the power play on Calgary's first shot of the game for a 1-0 lead at 2:36, and Gaudreau finished a three-way passing play with Elias Lindholm and Monahan to score his first goal in eight games and make it 2-0 at 6:49.
"The past few games I haven't been finding the net. Been getting good looks -- hitting posts, crossbars, getting some good chances," Gaudreau said. "It was nice to capitalize tonight and get rewarded in that department."
Monahan extended the lead to 3-0 when he one-timed a pass from Gaudreau at 10:59, and Brodie scored on a point shot through a screen at 13:52 to make it 4-0.
Tkachuk hit the post on a power play, and Monahan scored on the follow-up to push the lead to 5-0 at 16:57. Monahan has six points (four goals, two assists) in his past four games.
"It's fun, obviously, when you're putting the puck in the net and you're winning like that," Monahan said. "That's the best part of hockey."
Tkachuk scored 24 seconds into the second period to make it 6-0, and a point shot deflected off Bennett on the power play at 4:22 to extend it to 7-0.

VGK@CGY: Tkachuk scores off defender for second goal

"They had pretty much as many goals as we had shots (six) in the first period," Smith said. "There aren't too many positives you can take from that. You try to build one shift at a time and they come out in the second period and start scoring again. Just a frustrating night for us."
Holden scored 47 seconds into the third period to make it 7-1, and Pacioretty scored on the power play at 5:14 to cut the lead to 7-2.
"The third period, I mean, it's kind of irrelevant at that point," Holden said. "At least we put forth a little more effort. The first two periods, you just can't have that."

They said it

"It was a lack of effort. They just picked us apart in our D zone, and it just looked like we were two steps behind. I don't know if it's guys systematically or what it was, but it just can't happen again." -- Golden Knights defenseman Nick Holden
"I think we needed a win like that. Obviously we've been coming back from behind. We need to learn how to win and come out with a good start in our own building, night in and night out." -- Flames forward Sean Monahan

Need to know

Tkachuk has 12 points (seven goals, five assists) in his past nine games. … Rittich is 7-1-0 in eight starts. … Lindholm has 13 points (five goals, eight assists) in the past 11 games. … Flames forward James Neal, who was selected by the Golden Knights in the 2017 NHL Expansion Draft and helped Vegas reach the Stanley Cup Final last season, played his first game against his former team. … Vegas forward William Carrier played his 100th NHL game.

What's next

Golden Knights: At the Arizona Coyotes on Wednesday (8:30 p.m. ET; TVAS, FS-A PLUS, ATTSN-RM, NHL.TV)
Flames:Host the Winnipeg Jets on Wednesday (10 p.m. ET; SN, NHL.TV)

Flames score seven goals in win vs. Golden Knights