Thanksgiving weekend is about giving thanks for good tidings, and Calgary Flames coach Bob Hartley was most thankful in the aftermath of Friday’s 3-2 home win over New Jersey.
The second year Flames coach was most appreciative as his team extended their season-starting point streak to five games. “It wasn’t our best game, but we found a way to win,” said Hartley.
Unlike the Flames’ previous five matches, they didn’t take the lead until 2:43 remained in the game. But like all the others, it was an 18-year-old rookie who got his name on the scoresheet.
This time Sean Monahan scored the tie-breaking game-winning goal at 17:17 of the third period, converting a nifty pass from Sven Baertschi past future Hall of Fame goaltender Martin Brodeur.
The capacity Scotiabank Saddledome crowd stood in unison as Monahan, just two-and-a-half hours before turning 19, extended his personal goal streak to four games and point streak to five.
The Flames’ five-game point streak to start the season is the best in the 33 years since the team moved Calgary. The franchise record is 12, set in 1978-79 when the team was in Atlanta.
Monahan, the sixth overall pick in June’s draft, has tied a Flames record for goals in consecutive games by a rookie. Paul Ranheim scored goals in four straight matches from Jan. 25 through Feb. 1 in 1990. Monahan’s five-game point streak to start a season leaves him two shy of Sergei Makarov’s record of seven set in 1989. At the time, Makarov, already a seven-time scoring champ in the Russian Elite League, was 31 years old — 11 years older than Monahan, who last year was captain of the Ottawa 67’s of the Ontario Hockey League.
It took the Flames, as a team, a while to get in the groove Friday, hence Coach Hartley’s assessment that it wasn’t the club’s best outing.
For the first time, the Flames were behind after the first period as Adam Henrique gave the Devils a 1-0 lead.
Dennis Wideman got that goal back with a power-play tally in the second period before New Jersey’s Dainius Zubrus would make it 2-1. The Flames got another power-play goal, this time from captain Mark Giordano, with 18 second left in the middle frame.
The Flames outshot the Devils 9-4 in the third, but those were shots that actually got through to the net. There were times when the Flames were pinned in their own zone in the latter stages but had shots blocked by defencemen or forwards, with Lance Bouma leading the way. It made it easier for Joey MacDonald to earn his third victory of the season in his fourth consecutive start.
The Flames now start a five-game road venture on Wednesday in Anaheim, where they have lost the last 16 regular season games — a club record.
They’d like to erase that dubious mark and keep all the current good ones going.