OTTAWA — The Calgary Flames used a balanced scoring attack in a 6-3 victory over the Ottawa Senators on Saturday afternoon at Canadian Tire Centre.
Juuso Valimaki, Mikael Backlund, Elias Lindholm, Sean Monahan, Andrew Mangiapane and Matthew Tkachuk scored for the Flames, who ended Ottawa’s three-game win streak.
Drake Batherson, Colin White and Brady Tkachuk replied for the last-place Senators. Ottawa (7-15-1) remain in the NHL basement with 15 points.
Calgary (10-10-2) moved into a fourth-place tie with Montreal in the North Division with 22 points. The Canadiens were scheduled to play the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday night.
The Flames opened the scoring four minutes into the game.
The speedy Johnny Gaudreau zipped around a couple of Ottawa players before sending a backhand saucer pass to Valimaki for the one-timer.
The Flames scored again 37 seconds later as Backlund flipped a rolling puck past a handcuffed Matt Murray.
The Sens goalie stopped 27-of-33 shots on Saturday.
Perhaps in an effort to spark his teammates, Austin Watson fought bruising Flames forward Milan Lucic on the ensuing faceoff. Lucic, who had a 35-pound weight advantage, won the decision.
Calgary took advantage of some sloppy defensive play ahead of its third goal. Josh Norris turned the puck over deep in the zone and Lindholm snapped it in at 11:05.
Batherson extended his goal-scoring streak to five games with a power-play effort at 13:05. He beat David Rittich with a wrist shot from the faceoff circle.
Another Senators’ defensive lapse proved costly early in the second period as Chris Tierney coughed up the puck down low. Gaudreau fed it to Monahan for the power-play goal at 4:02.
A Calgary shorthanded goal followed at 9:36. Mangiapane hit the post with a redirect attempt before tapping in the rebound.
White responded 40 seconds later by scooping a loose puck off the faceoff and snapping it past a screened Rittich.
The netminder posted 31 saves in Calgary’s win.
The lone goal in the third period came when Brady Tkachuk scored on the Ottawa power play at 10:00.
The Senators dumped the Flames 6-1 on Thursday night. The teams will face off again Monday in the finale of Ottawa’s five-game homestand.
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