NEWARK, N.J. — Johnny Gaudreau scored the go-ahead goal and set up linemate Sean Monahan’s second of the game, and the Calgary Flames won their third straight, 3-2 over the New Jersey Devils on Thursday night.
Backup David Rittich made 30 saves, giving Mike Smith a rare night off and helping the Flames improve to 15-5-5 on the road.
Taylor Hall and Pavel Zacha scored for New Jersey, which lost its second straight and sixth of nine. Keith Kinkaid made 22 saves.
Calgary, which was outshot 12-1 in the final 20 minutes, got all of its goals in the second period.
After Monahan and Hall exchanged goals in the opening 7:23, Gaudreau put the Flames ahead after getting away with a trip on Nico Hischier as Hall and Jesper Bratt skated up the ice on a 2-on-1.
Instead of shooting, Hall’s pass to Bratt was off target and the puck went around the boards. Michael Ferland collected it, found Gaudreau at the Devils’ blue line and the New Jersey native beat Kinkaid with a backhander on a breakaway at 14:33 for a 2-1 lead.
Gaudreau was alone because Hischier was upset with the non-call and lost the man he was supposed to cover.
Monahan stretched the lead to 3-1 with 1:55 left in the period. After taking a pass from Gaudreau, his initial shot from the left circle hit the goalpost, went into the air and bounced off the helmet of defenceman Andy Greene. Monahan collected the puck low in the right circle and scored his 27th goal and fifth in the last four games.
Zacha closed the gap to 3-2 at 7:23 of the third period with a nifty backhander in close with New Jersey on a power play.
Calgary outshot New Jersey 12-8 in a scoreless first period. Kyle Palmieri hit the crossbar for New Jersey and Kinkaid stopped a backhander in close by the Flames’ Ryan Lomberg.
NOTES: Flames RW Michael Frolik played in his 700th NHL game. … Calgary RW Troy Brouwer was hit in the face by a puck early in the game and missed a portion of the first period. … LW John Quenneville played with the Devils for the first time this season. It was his 13th NHL game. … Monahan’s single-season mark for goals is 31 in 2014-15. … This is Hall’s fifth 20-goal season. … Calgary is now 18-2-2 when leading after two periods.
UP NEXT
Flames: At the New York Rangers on Friday night.
Devils: At Columbus on Saturday night.
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