Gaudreau, Tkachuk and Sutter headline Flames fifth straight win
By Gary Pearson
After a distinctly underwhelming first two frames, the Calgary Flames turned it on in the third for a 5-3 comeback win over the Kraken, their fifth victory in a row.
It was the second time the Flames have come back to win when trailing after two periods, improving that particular mark to 2-12-2. While they won’t want to make a habit of going into the second interval trailing, it was refreshing to see the Flames bag four in the third to overcome the odds.
Darryl Sutter can take a large portion of credit for making the goaltending switch when he did. Dan Vladar made seven saves in a sound third period relief performance, including a timely save on Karson Kuhlman when the Flames were trailing by one, helping stimulate Calgary’s comeback.
Gaudreau the first Flame to reach 100 points in a season since Fleury in 92-93
The main story of the night, however, focussed on Johnny Gaudreau busting through the 100-point plateau for the first time in his career. His assist on Matthew Tkachuk’s third period power-play marker made him the first Flame since Theo Fleury in 1992-1993 to net 100 points in a campaign.
He is only the second player born in the US to score 100 points in the last 25 years, with Patrick Kane hitting the mark in 2015-2016 and again in 2018-2019.
With 101 points, Johnny Hockey is fourth in league scoring, trailing Connor McDavid at the apex of the leaderboard by seven points.
The big question is whether Johnny can continue his scintillating form in the playoffs where his overall level historically drops precipitously.
Matthew Tkachuk scores his second career hat trick
Tkachuk scored his 35th, 36th and 37th goals and is now eight points short of reaching the 100-mark. If he continues with his season-long trajectory of a point per game, Tkachuk will finish the season with 100 points for the first time in his career.
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The Flames beat Seattle for the fourth consecutive time this season with last night’s comeback win and inch closer to clinching first place in the Pacific Division.