Flames end road trip with win in Nashville

Matthew Tkachuk and Dougie Hamilton each had a goal and an assist in the Calgary Flames‘ 4-3 victory over the Nashville Predators on Thursday night.

Mark Jankowski and Curtis Lazar also scored, and David Rittich made 29 saves. The Flames won two of their last three to finish 4-2 on their longest trip of the season.

Ryan Johansen, Yannick Weber and Nick Bonino scored for Nashville, and Pekka Rinne made 27 saves. The Predators had won two in a row, and Rinne was 10-0-1 in his previous 11.

Jankowski gave Calgary its first lead at 3:24 of the third, capping a tic-tac-toe passing play with Takchuk and Sam Bennett with a tap-in from just outside the crease. Lazar’s wrist shot from the right side beat Rinne high to the glove side at 10:14 of the third to make it 4-2.

Nashville drew within a goal at 12:19 of the third when Bonino redirected a pass from Pontus Aberg by Rittich.

Rittich’s best save came on P.K. Subban’s slap shot with under a minute remaining in the game and the Predators on a power play and Rinne lifted for an extra attacker. With 9.2 seconds remaining, Rittich got his glove on an attempt from Kevin Fiala, just preventing it from crossing the goal line. A brief video review confirmed the on-ice ruling.

Johansen opened the scoring at 13:45 of the opening period. Rittich stopped Ryan Ellis’ slap shot from the middle of the blue line. Standing just outside the crease, Craig Smith poked the puck loose, and Johansen was able to tap the puck across at the left post.

Tkachuk tied it on a power play with 44 seconds left in the first. Mark Giordano’s wrist shot from the left point hit Sean Monahan in front. Tkachuk grabbed the rebound and banked the rebound off of Rinne and in for his 21st goal of the season.

Weber made it 2-1 at 9:30 of the second. From inside the Nashville blue line, Weber’s pass sent Viktor Arvidsson in on a breakaway. Arvidsson’s wrist shot from the slot hit the right post, but Weber hustled to follow the play and put the rebound past Rittich.

Hamilton tied it at 14:28 of the second. At the tail end of a full 2:00 5-on-3 advantage, Hamilton snapped a wrist shot from the high slot just underneath the crossbar. Nashville was just 15 seconds from killing off both minor penalties assessed to Weber and fellow defenceman Alexei Emelin at 12:43.

Johnny Gaudreau had the secondary assist on Hamilton’s goal, his career-high 49th assist of the season.

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