CALGARY, Alberta (AP) — Elias Lindholm, Dillon Dube and Andrew Mangiapane each had a goal and an assist, Noah Hanifin also scored and the Calgary Flames beat the Edmonton Oilers 4-3 Monday night for their third straight win under new coach Darryl Sutter.
Mikael Backlund had two assists and Jacob Markstrom stopped 28 of 31 shots. Sutter replaced Geoff Ward, who was fired March 4. The Flames have yet to trail in a game under the veteran coach.
“It’s a great sign,” Hanifin said. “Guys are starting to play to their roles, compete and work hard and play a full 60 minutes. That what you need."
Leon Draisaitl, Josh Archibald and Adam Larsson scored for Edmonton, which played its third game in four days. Mike Smith had 23 saves.
“Three of the four goals were a couple of poor reads and a couple turnovers, so our fingers are all over the goals we gave them,” Oilers coach Dave Tippett said. “We made some mistakes to get behind, we got ourselves back in the game and then we made another mistake to give it away."
The Oilers hold the third spot in the all-Canadian North Division. The Flames were two points back of the fourth-place Montreal Canadiens.
“We’re still behind the 8-ball,” Sutter said. “If this was our last game of the year, we could say we won, but we didn’t make the playoffs.”
Flames defenseman Oliver Kylington left the game in the first period after taking Jujhar Khaira's elbow to the head. Kylington was back on Calgary’s bench before the end of the period.
Khaira and Flames forward Brett Ritchie fought a few shifts later. Khaira appeared dazed after taking several punches to the head and needed help to the bench and down the tunnel. He did not return.
NOTES: The Flames improved to 12-0-0 this season when leading after two periods. ... Draisaitl extended his point streak to seven games (seven goals, five assists) and Connor McDavid had an assist to stretch his run to six (three goals, 10 assists).
UP NEXT
The teams play again Wednesday night. Then the Oilers host Winnipeg on Thursday night, and the Flames open a four-game trip at Toronto on Friday night.
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