Third-period goals by Andrew Mangiapane and Sam Bennett were the difference as the host Calgary Flames snapped a four-game losing streak with a 4-2 victory over the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday.
Goaltender David Rittich made 22 saves in the win, while Josh Leivo and Mark Giordano also scored for the Flames, who recovered after blowing a 2-0 lead.
Mason Appleton and Logan Stanley replied for the Jets, who saw their three-game winning streak snapped. Laurent Brossoit stopped 29 shots in net. The clubs complete a three-game set Monday in Calgary.
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With the score 2-2, Mangiapane restored Calgary’s lead 49 seconds into the third period when he sent a sharp-angled shot while on the rush that redirected off Tucker Poolman’s stick. Chris Tanev recorded his 100th career assist on the goal.
Bennett’s lucky tally to snap a 14-game goal drought rounded out the scoring. Bennett’s shot from a long ways out was going wide, but Brossoit misplayed it and ended up deflecting it into his own net with 12:12 remaining in regulation.
It was a somewhat unexpected finish the way things have gone lately for the Flames. They needed a strong start to build some confidence and received it with a pair of late first-period goals to take a 2-0 lead.
Leivo opened the scoring when he pounced on a rebound at the 17:13 mark. Then, Giordano’s power-play goal — his point shot ricocheted off Appleton’s stick and into the net — doubled the lead with 45.2 seconds remaining in the opening frame. Johnny Gaudreau, who was criticized by his coach after last game, collected an assist on the goal in his 500th career game.
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Holding leads has been a problem, among others, for the Flames of late, and the Jets scored twice early in the second period to erase the lead. Appleton, from the high slot, sent a shot that was going wide, but banked off Milan Lucic and into the net 34 seconds into the frame.
Then, Stanley scored his first career goal to even the count. Stanley, a 2016 first-round pick skating in his 23rd NHL game, unloaded a top-corner wrist shot from the right circle at 6:19 of the middle frame.
–Field Level Media