CALGARY — A crossbar in the first, a post in the second and a game-winner in the third.
It was quite a bounce-back for Johnny Gaudreau.
Two nights after the Flames’ mighty mite finished minus-3 and drew a rare stink-eye from coach Bill Peters, Gaudreau returned to the role he’s generally accustomed to playing in Calgary.
Hero.
In the midst of his career-best start to a season, Gaudreau snapped a 1-1 tie with 12 minutes left in the third period with a power play goal to edge a surprisingly resilient Kings squad.
Two empty-netters made it a 4-1 win, but the game was in doubt late in the evening despite a shot total that finished 37-14 in the Flames favour.
Less than a minute before Gaudreau struck gold, Mike Smith made the play of the night with a dramatic blocker save on Dustin Brown, who appeared to have brilliantly converted a Kings two-on-one.
Austin Czarnik drew a penalty right after the Flames turned the puck back up ice, setting the stage for Gaudreau.
“You could arguably say that save won us the game,” said Gaudreau, whose 10 goals and 29 points have him tied with Matthew Tkachuk for the Flames’ scoring lead. “It could’ve been 2-1 for them going into the last 10 minutes of the game and they’re a really good, defensively-structured team. It could have turned the game the other way. Huge save for him and we come down and get the power play and get the two points.
“He deserves that win. He’s been working hard of late.”
Smith knows all about bounce backs, which is what he’s continued to do following his late-goal collapse against Montreal three starts ago. He’s since been solid, allowing one goal in each of his last two wins.
To be fair, Gaudreau and his top line have been extremely consistent all season, helping the Flames lead the Pacific division. Peters simply wasn’t impressed Wednesday when the big boys were scored on in the first minute and in overtime against the Stars, and said as much afterwards.
Gaudreau could be seen several times showing frustration on the ice and the bench following some golden chances — none more bothersome than after the left-handed winger tried stuffing a forehand in from behind the net on goalie Cal Petersen, who was leaning the other way. Yet, the shot scooted along the goal line and bounced off the far post.
“He was shimmy-shaking back there a little bit,” said Petersen of the Gretzky-like moves behind the net. “It was hard to keep track of. You see something like that and hopefully you kind of holster it for the next time he tries it.”
He’ll certainly try it again.
“I made a move to the right and got him going across the crease, and couldn’t slide it in,” said Gaudreau, who has three game-winning goals as part of a start that has him top-20 in the NHL scoring race.
“Normally I put those in but that was the way the game was going for me. I was getting all these looks — posts, crossbars and ton of chances — it was nice to finally get one in the third. I was pretty relieved and pretty excited to get our team in the lead there.”
Fans deserved the finish they got as the first two periods were horrifically devoid of entertainment.
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“Through 40 it didn’t seem like much was going on — it was a pretty boring game to be honest,” said Smith, who evened his record at 7-7-1 with the 13-save win. “Our guys did a great job sticking with it.”
The Flames’ hallmark this season has been scoring goals in the third period, something they’ve needed to author six late comebacks already.
“Like Smitty said, it was a boring game there,” smiled Gaudreau, who shoveled in an Elias Lindholm rebound with a backhand that somehow went under the leg of a sprawling defender.
“But when it mattered most in the third we had our strongest period, which is a good sign.”
Former Flame Dion Phaneuf was recognized on the Jumbotron during the first period for recently playing in his 1,000th game. Video of him being presented with a painting by the Flames before the game drew a somewhat warm response from the crowd.
The Kings defender spent the rest of the night exchanging barbs and words with everyone from Ryan Lomberg to Sam Bennett and Tkachuk while the crowd booed him.
The Flames have won five of their last seven and head out on a road trip through Chicago and Columbus with their dads in tow.
