Elias Lindholm scored the go-ahead goal on a power play, Johnny Gaudreau had a goal and two assists, and Jacob Markstrom made 30 saves to lift the visiting Calgary Flames to a 5-1 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday night.
Calgary outshot Chicago 42-31, including 26-9 in the second period.
Persistence paid off as the Flames beat Blackhawks goaltender Arvid Soderblom twice in the second period of his first NHL start to seize control.
Calgary surged ahead on a power-play goal at 9:08 of the second when Elias Lindholm buried a one-timer from Sean Monahan.
Late in the period, less than one minute after the Flames’ Nikita Zadorov was whistled for tripping, Calgary converted a short-handed goal as Blake Coleman won a puck battle in the corner to assist on a tally from Trevor Lewis.
Soderblom has played the past five periods in net for the Blackhawks, losers of four straight. The 22-year-old Swede relieved Collin Delia after one period of Saturday’s matinee road loss at Nashville, stopping 15 of 18 shots he faced.
Soderblom made 37 saves Sunday, including a stop of Dillon Dube on a penalty shot with 7:46 remaining in regulation.
Chicago goaltender Kevin Lankinen remains in COVID-19 protocol. Fellow goalie Marc Andre-Fleury cleared protocol Sunday and was on the active roster.
The Blackhawks opened the scoring at 9:41 of the first period as Alex DeBrincat converted a centering pass from Patrick Kane for his club-leading 18th goal of the season.
Calgary answered just more than three minutes later when Gaudreau took a bank pass off the offensive end boards and found Matthew Tkachuk.
Kane twice hit the post on the same shift late in the third period as Chicago tried to rally.
Oliver Kylington scored an empty-netter with 1:55 left in the game before Gaudreau capped the scoring 29 seconds later.
Tkachuk assisted on the Gaudreau goal for a two-point night.
–Field Level Media
–Field Level Media