Elias Lindholm and Mark Giordano scored in the second period for the red-hot Calgary Flames, who capped a perfect three-game Eastern Conference road swing with a 2-1 win over the host New Jersey Devils on Wednesday night.
David Rittich made 19 saves for the Western Conference-leading Flames, who have won seven straight and allowed one goal in each of the last four victories. Calgary earlier beat the Ottawa Senators and New York Islanders on the road trip.
Kevin Rooney scored in the second period while goalie Mackenzie Blackwood made 33 saves for the Devils, who have alternated losses with wins in their last five games.
New Jersey may have absorbed a bigger loss when defenseman Mirco Mueller was carted off the ice 1:09 into the third period. Mueller appeared to hit his head and shoulders against the boards when he got tied up with Flames right winger Michael Frolik while the two were chasing a rebound deep in the Calgary zone.
With Mueller prone face down on the ice, his teammates immediately began waving for a stretcher. The players on the ice surrounded Mueller as he was tended to by trainers. He gave a thumbs-up as he was wheeled off the playing surface.
After a scoreless first period, the Flames scored a power-play goal moments after a 5-on-3 opportunity turned into a 5-on-4 advantage. The score was credited to Lindholm, who appeared to be passing across the crease when the puck ticked off the skate of Devils defenseman Sami Vatanen and trickled past Blackwood just 67 seconds into the period.
The Flames doubled their lead almost 13 minutes later, when Giordano deked Blackwood, who was stationed to the right of the net, into thinking he was going to fire a shot at him. With Blackwood caught leaning, Giordano skated across the crease and backhanded the puck into the left corner of the net with 6:08 left.
The Devils cut the lead in half thanks to an unassisted goal by Rooney almost three minutes later. Rooney stole the puck from Johnny Gaudreau deep in the Flames' zone, whirled and fired a shot that sailed past kneeling Calgary defenseman Travis Hamonic and off the glove of Rittich.
--Field Level Media
Calgary | New Jersey | |
Johnny Gaudreau 2 | Points | Kevin Rooney 1 |
Mark Giordano 1 | Goals | Kevin Rooney 1 |
Johnny Gaudreau 2 | Assists | Kevin Rooney 0 |
Elias Lindholm 1 | Power Play Goals | N/A |
N/A | Short Handed Goals | Kevin Rooney 1 |
David Rittich .950 | Save Percentage | Mackenzie Blackwood .943 |
David Rittich 19 | Saves | Mackenzie Blackwood 33 |
Team | Shots | Goals | Power Play | Penalty Kill | Penalty Mins | Face Offs Won |
Calgary | 35 | 2 | 1-4 | 2-2 | 6 | 21 |
New Jersey | 20 | 1 | 0-2 | 3-4 | 10 | 34 |